PEN Presents: Supporting Global Translators & Bibliodiversity

We are pleased to introduce this exceptional shortlist, which recognises both the literary quality of the tasks and translations, and the contribution to bibliodiversity that each project will make. We are confident that PEN Presents, the reward’s new campaign with English PEN, will certainly increase that better. By mentoring and advertising 6 gifted translators from the international majorityas they look to proceed in their occupations, the programme will certainly in turn bring a selection ofnew global fiction to Anglophone viewers.

Inaugural PEN Presents Shortlist Revealed

The shortlist of translators for the inauguralPEN PresentsxInternational Booker Reward, a give programmelaunched to support translators from the worldwide bulk, has been revealed. This year, the shortlist includes 12 titles, 13 translators, 9 nineterritories and languages, with 12 translators recognised for the very first time by PEN Provides, and a second shortlisting for Tiffany Tsao.The tasks shortlisted have been referred to as “staunchly unique in personality and voice, but united by the fact of their creativity, timeliness and quality”.

Taneja stated: “The PEN Provides selection panel– a team with varied know-how, histories and opinions– takes into consideration each proposal meticulously, in numerous rounds, making use of extensive criteria. We are pleased to introduce this outstanding shortlist, which recognises both the literary top quality of the translations and jobs, and the contribution to bibliodiversity that each project will certainly make. I can’t wait to see how these jobs create, and I’m happy to support them to reach brand-new visitors throughout the world.”

Addressing Underrepresentation of Global Translators

Will certainly Forrester, head of Literary works Programmes at English PEN, stated: “This collaboration between English PEN and the Booker Reward Structure came from a recognition that translators from the worldwide bulk were not being equitably represented in the titles sent to PEN Translates and the International Booker Reward. The excellence of these jobs reveals the value of working concertedly to correct this: these are 12 substantial jobs of literary works, with 13 great translators ready to convey them to English-language publishers and visitors.

The reward launched in 2024 to resolve theunderrepresentation in translators from the worldwide majority, by funding and advertising the job of these translatorsso that even more literature in translation, created by more people, gets to English-language viewers. The “global majority” is a cumulative term for people of African, Asian, Indigenous, Latin American or mixed-heritage backgrounds, that compose around 85% of the populace.

Grant & Support for Shortlisted Translators

The shortlisted translators each receive ₤ 500 grants to create 5,000-word sample translations of their proposed jobs. The winning translators receive editorial support, working with English PEN, editors and experienced translators on their samples, with the winners introduced and the examples released and promoted to UK publishers in Summer 2025.

Diverse Projects from Around the World

“From a crystalline tale of childhood and shed virtue in Palestine to an intimate, intergenerational household saga in Sudan, from a lyrical tale of identification, kinship and area in Martinique to finely drawn tales of queer guys in the Philippines, these projects are staunchly unique in personality and voice, yet unified by their creativity, timeliness and quality. We’re excited to read the samples the shortlistees produce and to review the unabridged translationsthat we know will certainly originate from them, record the passions of UK publishers and find their methods into brand-new viewers’ hands.”

For this round of PEN Provides, translators, based throughout the world, were asked to submit proposals to develop sample translations of formerly untranslated jobs of long-form fiction or collections of short stories by any kind of writer, from any type of language and region, and of any style, category and era.

The shortlist was picked by a panel of 7 professionals, chaired byPreti Taneja, author, professor of globe literature and imaginative writing at Newcastle University and English PEN translation advisory co-chair. She was joined bySafae El-Ouahabi, partner at RCW; Elisabeth Jaquette, translator from Executive and arabic supervisor of Words Without Boundaries; ŽeljkaMarošević, content supervisor at Jonathan Cape; Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author, editor and supervisor at Flipped Eye Posting; Fiammetta Rocco, administrator of the International Booker Prize; and ShashTrevett, poet and translator from Tamil.

Rocco stated: “Over the previous decade, the International Booker Prize has assisted fiction in translation turn into one of the most lively sectors of British posting. We are confident that PEN Presents, the reward’s new effort with English PEN, will enhance that better. By mentoring and promoting six skilled translators from the worldwide majorityas they want to progress in their professions, the program will certainly in turn bring a selection ofnew global fiction to Anglophone visitors. The most effective entries, identified below, crossed geographic, social and etymological separates, providing us stories that areintensely neighborhood while enduring and likewise global.”