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The Longlist for the 2023 National Book Awards: Translated Literature

Explore the 2023 National Book Awards Translated Literature longlist, showcasing captivating stories from Latin American countries. Discover compelling narratives today.
on Sep 15, 2023

The longlists for the 2023 National Book Awards will be announced this week by The New Yorker. We announced the 10 finalists in the category of Young People's Literature this morning. Poetry will be posted tomorrow morning.

This year's longlist for Translated Literature includes five titles situated in Latin American countries. Colombia is the setting for two novels: "Abyss," by Pilar Quintana, and "The Devil of the Provinces," by Juan Cárdenas. "On a Woman's Madness" by Astrid Roemer describes a queer Black lady's affair with an elderly woman in Suriname's capital. "The Words That Remain" by Stênio Gardel recounts the narrator's upbringing in Northern Brazil.

"This Is Not Miami," by Fernanda Melchor, chronicles horrible, everyday violence in and around Veracruz, Mexico.

In Khaled Khalifa's "No One Prayed Over Their Graves," two men, one Christian and one Muslim, rebuild their lives after a flood destroys their Syrian village. "Kairos," by Jenny Erpenbeck, depicts an affair between a young lady and a married writer in his fifties against the backdrop of the German Democratic Republic's demise. The ten books up for consideration were initially published in seven different languages. The National Book Awards have previously recognised six awardees. The complete list is provided below.

Juan Cárdenas, “The Devil of the Provinces”

Translated from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis

Coffee House Press

Bora Chung, “Cursed Bunny”

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur

Algonquin Books / Hachette Book Group

David Diop, “Beyond the Door of No Return”

Translated from the French by Sam Taylor

Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Jenny Erpenbeck, “Kairos”

Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann

New Directions Publishing

Stênio Gardel, “The Words That Remain”

Translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato

New Vessel Press

Khaled Khalifa, “No One Prayed Over Their Graves”

Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price

Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Fernanda Melchor, “This Is Not Miami”

Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes

New Directions Publishing

Pilar Quintana, “Abyss”

Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman

World Editions

Astrid Roemer, “On a Woman’s Madness”

Translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott

Two Lines Press

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, “The Most Secret Memory of Men”

Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud

Other Press

Geoffrey Brock, whose translation of Giuseppe Ungaretti's "Allegria" received the National Translation Award in Poetry; Arthur Malcolm Dixon, co-founder of the online journal Latin American Literature Today; Cristina Rodriguez, a former bookseller; T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a professor of humanities at Vanderbilt University; and Jeremy Tiang, who has translated more than twenty books from Chinese, are this year's judges.