Read Russia Prize Explained

The Read Russia Prize awards are made every two years for outstanding translations of Russian literature into foreign languages.

About the prize

Established in 2011 by the Institute for Literary Translation, the awards are supported by the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communication (Rospechat’) and the Boris N. Yeltsin Presidential Center. They are awarded to a translator (or group of translators) for works published in translation by a foreign publisher during the previous two years. There are four categories of awards. The winner(s) receive an award of up to $10,000, divided between the translator(s) of the work and the publishing house(s).

First Session 2010–2012

• 19th-C Classic Russian Literature: Victor Gallego Ballesteros's translation of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (Alba)
• 20th-C Russian Literature (pre-1990): John Elsworth's translation of Andrei Bely's novel Petersburg (Pushkin Press)
• Contemporary Russian Literature (post-1990): Hélène Henry-Safier's translation of Dmitrii Bykov's Pasternak (Fayard)
• Poetry: Alessandro Niero's translation of Dmitrii Prigov's Thirty Three Texts (Terra Ferma)^{[1] [2]}

Second Session 2012–2014

• 19th-C Classic Russian Literature: Alejandro Ariel Gonzales's translation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella The Double (Eterna Cadencia)
• 20th-C Russian Literature (pre-1990): Alexander Nitzberg's translation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel Master and Margarita (Galiani Berlin)
• Contemporary Russian Literature (post-1990): Marian Schwartz's translation of Leonid Yuzefovich’s novel Harlequin’s Costume (Glagoslav Publications)
• Poetry: Liu Wenfei's translation of poetry by Alexander Pushkin (China Yuhang Publishing House)^{[3] [4]}

Third Session 2014–2016

• 19th-C Classic Russian Literature: Joaquin Fernandez-Valdes's translation of Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons (Alba)
• 20th-C Russian Literature (pre-1990): Selma Ancira's translation of stories by 20-C writers (Tsvetaeva, Pasternak, Blok, Gumilev, Mandelstam, Bunin, Bulgakov, and Berberova) titled Paisaje caprichoso de la literatura rusa (Fondo de Cultura Económica)
• Contemporary Russian Literature (post-1990): Lisa Hayden's translation of Eugene Vodolazkin’s Laurus (Oneworld Publications)
• Poetry: Claudia Scandura's translation of Sergei Gandlevsky's Rust and Yellow. Poems of 198–2011 (Gattomerlino)^{[5] [6]}

Fourth Session 2016–2018

• 19th-C Classic Russian Literature: Marta Sánchez-Nieves's translation of Leo Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches (Alba Editorial)
• 20th-C Russian Literature (pre-1990): Anne Coldefy-Faucard with Geneviève Johannet's translation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s April 1917 (Fayard)
• Contemporary Russian Literature (post-1990): Oliver Ready's translation of Vladimir Sharov’s The Rehearsals (Dedalus Europe)^[7]
• Poetry: Kiril Kadiysky's translation of Fyodor Tyutchev’s Selected Poems (Nov Zlatorog)^{[8] [9]}

Read Russia Prize for Russian-English Translation

Jury: Kevin M. F. Platt, Donald Rayfield and Anna Summers

• Winner: Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Anne Marie Jackson, and Irina Steinberg's translation of Teffi's autobiographical Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea (New York Review Books/Pushkin Press)
• Special Mention: Thomas J. Kitson's translation of Rapture, written by Iliazd's (Ilia Zdanevich) Rapture (Columbia University Press's Russian Library imprint)
• Special Mention: Karetnyk, Maria Bloshteyn, Robert Chandler, Justin Doherty, Boris Dralyuk, Rose France, Dmitri Nabokov, Donald Rayfield, Irina Steinberg, and Anastasia Tolstoy's translation of Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yankovsky, edited by Bryan Karetnyk (Penguin Classics)

Fifth Session 2018–2020

Read Russia Prize for Russian-English Translation

Jury: Bryan Karetnyk, Muireann Maguire and Anastasia Tolstoy.^[10]

Shortlist:

• Betsy Hulick's translation of Alexander Griboedov's Woe from Wit (Columbia University Press/Russian Library)
• Robert and Elizabeth Chandler's translation of Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad (Harvill Secker and New York Review Books)
• Boris Dralyuk, Alex Fleming, and Anne Marie Jackson's translation of Maxim Osipov's Rock, Paper, Scissors (New York Review Books)
• Antony Wood's translation of Alexander Pushkin's Selected Poetry (Penguin Random House)  
• Lisa C. Hayden's translation of Guzel Yakhina's Zuleikha (Oneworld)

Winner: Antony Wood's translation of Alexander Pushkin's Selected Poetry (Penguin Random House)^[11]

Special Mention: Robert and Elizabeth Chandler's translation of Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad (Harvill Secker and New York Review Books)

External links

• About the Prize - Institut Perevoda

Notes and References

1. Web site: Read Russia. 2020-10-01. eng.institutperevoda.ru.
2. Web site: Hayden. Lisa C.. 2012-09-16. Oodles of Award News: Yasnaya Polyana, Read Russia Translations, Book of the Year. 2020-10-01. Lizok's Bookshelf.
3. Web site: Read Russia. 2020-10-01. eng.institutperevoda.ru.
4. Web site: ReadRussia. Read Russia Journal. 2020-10-01. Read Russia. en.
5. Web site: Read Russia. 2020-10-01. eng.institutperevoda.ru.
6. Web site: 2016-09-15. Classic, 20th-Century, and Contemporary Literature: The Read Russia Prizes. 2020-10-01. Publishing Perspectives. en-US.
7. Web site: Oliver Ready wins Read Russia Prize 2018 St Antony's College. 2020-10-01. www.sant.ox.ac.uk.
8. Web site: Read Russia. 2020-10-01. eng.institutperevoda.ru.
9. Web site: Read Russia: best Russian literature translators awarded in Moscow. 2020-10-01. russkiymir.ru.
10. Web site: ReadRussia. Read Russia Announces the READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2020 Shortlist. 2020-10-01. Read Russia. en.
11. Web site: ReadRussia. READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2020 – WINNER. 2020-10-06. Read Russia. en.