Entries invited for international translators' prize in Bengali

Entries are now open for the Harvill Secker Young Translators Prize, with Bengali being the chosen language for the ninth edition of the annual prize.

The entrants are required to translate the short story "Half-Timer Pawre" by the 2017 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar winner Shamik Ghosh, from his collection "Elvis O Amolasundari".

Young literary translators, with no more than one full-length translation previously published, can submit their English translations with the entry form via post to the publisher's London centre by August 28. Online and email entries for the prize will not be accepted.

Languages including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and German have been chosen for previous editions of the prize. Bengali is the first Indian language to be selected for it.

In a statement, Penguin Random House, the publisher of Harvill Secker imprint, said that the annual prize focuses on a different language each year and is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with no restriction on country of residence.

The publisher said that the prize aims to recognise the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers.

"This year's prize will be judged by translator Arunava Sinha, anthropologist and novelist Tahmima Anam, writer and television presenter Konnie Huq and Harvill Secker editor Mikaela Pedlow," said the statement.

A prize of 1,000 pounds and a selection of Harvill Secker books will be awarded to the winning translator.

The publisher said that winning translator will take part in a Norwich-based National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship. The mode of the mentorship programme, along with involved costs, however, remain unclear.

Most of the previous winning entries have appeared in Granta, a top-notch magazine founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University.

-- IANS

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