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Some five-hundred-odd translated titles are in contention ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ well, at least get considered ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ for a book prize, the Best Translated Book Award. Not surprisingly, a number of them have previously won literary prizes of one sort of another, and itÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s interesting to see how they stack up against the still-un-prized competition.

Two of the authors with books in the running are Nobel laureates ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ though in the case of José Saramago, the eligible title is not one which was taken into consideration in awarding him that prize: his posthumously published but very early novel, , translated by Margaret Jull Costa. 2014 Nobel laureate Patrick ModianoÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s (trans. by Mark Polizzotti), on the other hand, is unusual in being a three-for-one collection, collecting three novel(las) that were originally published as stand-alones. Despite all the criticism the Swedish Academy gets for some of their Nobel selections, itÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s rare that a laureateÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s work isnÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t worth reading. The Saramago ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ written in the early 1950s, and, when it was not accepted for publication, leading him to abandon writing fiction for nearly a quarter of a century ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ stands in every way apart from the rest of his work but already suggests many of the qualities of his later writing. The Modiano-trio, on the other hand, is from a writer at the height of his powers ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ and benefits some from being a triple-dose: ModianoÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s work is all related ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ arguably part of just one very big book ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ and this volume nicely presents three versions of it. (On the other hand, it suffers a bit by comparison with one of the few of his other works available in English, (trans. by Barbara Wright), written during the same period (chronologically it belongs in the middle of these three) and still my favorite of the available-in-English Modianos.)

The literary-prize-winner that BTBA watchers might have their eye on most is (sort of) of last yearÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, which is the closest British approximation to the BTBA. (The IFFP differs from the BTBA in that it does consider re-translations (the BTBA doesnÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t) and doesnÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t consider books by dead authors (the BTBA does).) The IFFP went to Hassan BlasimÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s The Iraqi Christ ; confusingly, the US edition of his stories eligible for this yearÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s BTBA, (trans. by Jonathan Wright), is made up of a collection of stories from that volume, as well as from a previously-published-in-the-UK volume, The Madman of Freedom Square. Twice as much Blasim as in his IFFP-winning book ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ that presumably canÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t hurt his chances! Short story collections have historically had a hard time in the BTBA-process, but BlasimÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s is certainly among the more promising contenders in recent years.

Not that many national or regional book prizes ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ beyond those awarded to English-language books like the Man Booker ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ are well-known in the US but one that probably should be is the Nordic Council Literature Prize, the top Scandinavian prize. The is an impressive one, and several winning titles have been among the BTBA contenders in recent years. This year , by Naja Marie Aidt (trans. by Denise Newman), the , is in the running. Another short story collection ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ in a year with quite a few of these ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ itÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s certainly a title to look out for.

While the Prix Goncourt is the major French literary prize, the Prix Renaudot is the clear runner-up ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ and Scholastique MukasongaÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s — translated by Melanie Mauthner and published by Archipelago, who always seem to have a couple of titles on the BTBA longlist ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ is in the BTBA-running this year.

And while genre novels always have a tough time asserting themselves in the BTBA, how about , by Antonin Varenne (trans. by Sian Reynolds) ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ the 2009 – and -winner? (The fact that itÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s been such an impressive year for French noir ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ a quartet of Pascal Garnier novels, and a Jean-Patrick Manchette leading the way ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ is probably the biggest hurdle to this title making the cut.)

ItÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s also interesting to see what translations into other languages have been prize-winning. ThereÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s Leonardo PaduraÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s Trotsky novel, , for example, a Spanish novel whose French translation won the 2011 .

And then thereÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s a book like Maylis de Kerangal’s (trans. by Jessica Moore): the original French won the 2010 Prix Medicis and the , and the Italian translation won the 2014 . Published in English by Canadian , this is yet another translation that hasnÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t gotten the attention it deserves but which has the stuff to go far in the BTBA, introducing a new and distinctive voice (in admirable translation) whom weÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™ll be hearing a lot more of.

Of course, winning a literary prize is not a guarantee of quality, and one title in the BTBA-running stands out in this regard. Winner of both the 2012 and the 2012 , a finalist for both the highest French literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, and the Prix Femina, youÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™d figure Joël DickerÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™s would have to be a front-runner for the BTBA. I canÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½™t speak for my fellow judges, who may yet vote to put this thing on the longlistÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½¦no, I think I can speak with confidence in stating that this will not be among the books that will be in anywhere near the final running. Despite ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ or actually in part also because of ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½“ its American setting, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair manages to feel foreign in all the wrong ways, certainly to American ears.