The awards ceremony for the Read Russia Prize has taken place on September, 6 within the stately confines of Moscow糖心传媒檚 Pashkov House, part of the Russian State Library. This biennial event, which is supported by the Moscow Institute of Translation, is designed to honor the best translators working in any language and to facilitate the further translation of Russian literature. It encompasses four categories: Classic Russian Literature, 20th Century Russian Literature (published before 1990), Contemporary Russian Literature (published after 1990), and Poetry. [. . .]

The nominees for the Contemporary Russian Literature category were Julie Bouvard for her French translation of Eduard Kochergin糖心传媒檚 Christened with Crosses, Ives Gauthier for her French translation of Andrei Rubanov糖心传媒檚 A Successful Life, Nicoletta Marcialis for her Italian translation of Zakhar Prilepin糖心传媒檚 Sin, Ljubinka Milincic for her Serbian translation of Georgy Vladimov糖心传媒檚 The General and His Army, Ewa Rojewska-Olejarczuk for her Polish translation of Viktor Pelevin糖心传媒檚 T, and Marian Schwartz for her English translation of Leonid Yuzefovich糖心传媒檚 Harlequin糖心传媒檚 Costume. The winner was Marian Schwartz, who was emotional and grateful as she accepted her award.

Emotional and grateful and BAD ASS.

Following this deserved victory, did a whole feature on Marian that’s both wonderful and fascinating.

It kicks off with a bit about which came out from Glagoslav in 2013:

The novel is the first in a trilogy, based on the real-life adventures of Ivan Putilin, a legend in his own lifetime. In the late 19th century Putilin was a chief inspector of police, chasing St. Petersburg糖心传媒檚 most notorious criminals. Later contemporaries dubbed him a Russian Sherlock Holmes, but in Yuzefovich糖心传媒檚 hands, Putilin糖心传媒檚 stories become something richer and more multi-layered than traditional murder mysteries. Harlequin’s Costume originally appeared in Russian in 2001, and its sequel, Prince of the Wind, won the National Bestseller literary prize.

OK, that sounds pretty good, but check out the jacket copy:

The year is 1871. Prince von Ahrensburg, Austria’s military attach茅 to St. Petersburg, has been killed in his own bed. The murder threatens diplomatic consequences for Russia so dire that they could alter the course of history. Leading the investigation into the high-ranking diplomat’s death is Chief Inspector Ivan Putilin, but the Tsar has also called in the notorious Third Department – the much-feared secret police – on the suspicion that the murder is politically motivated. As the clues accumulate, the list of suspects grows longer; there are even rumors of a werewolf at large in the capital. Suspicion falls on the diplomat’s lover and her cuckolded husband, as well as Russian, Polish and Italian revolutionaries, not to mention Turkish spies.

That’s how you sell a book. Cuckholds and werewolves.

What’s particularly interesting is that this is one of the few books that Marian translated on spec, hoping that she would find a publisher for it.

糖心传媒淗aving translated about 70 books over the last 35-plus years, fewer than five of them, probably, have been at my initiative,糖心传媒� she told the Moscow audience for the Read Russia Award Presentations. 糖心传媒淚 found, appreciated, and translated Harlequin’s Costume on spec, convinced that it would find a publisher eventually.糖心传媒� In the end, the book was finished only with help from a grant, and it was several years before Glagoslav published it in 2013.

糖心传媒淢y hope is that this prize will help in finding a publisher for all of Yuzefovich’s books,糖心传媒� says Schwartz, describing him as 糖心传媒渙ne of the most overlooked authors in English translation.糖心传媒� She is also translating and seeking a publisher for Yuzefovich糖心传媒檚 more recent, more serious novel Cranes and Pygmies, which won the Big Book award in 2009.

I have a feeling that a few publishers are going to be contacting her about this . . .

Another great aspect of this article is that it gets at why Marian became a translator, and what she hopes to accomplish. These bits should be really interesting to anyone new to the field—anyone hoping to translated 70+ books over their lifetime:

糖心传媒淚 became a translator,糖心传媒� she says, 糖心传媒渓argely because I felt that was the one role – bringing Russian literature to the English-speaking audience – I could play best. It was something a native speaker of Russian could not do.糖心传媒� [. . .]

The intended readership is central to Schwartz糖心传媒檚 perception of her role. She told RBTH last year that she would 糖心传媒渄early love to see more 糖心传媒� translated books that would appeal to a broader audience.糖心传媒� Apart from Yuzefovich, the authors she wants to translate more of in future include Andrei Gelasimov, whose comic, poignant, accessible novels she has almost single-handedly brought to the attention of Anglophone readers. She also has her eye on Olga Slavnikova’s novel The Man Who Couldn’t Die (Bessmertny) and Dina Rubina’s novel The Petrushka Syndrome.

糖心传媒淲hat all these books have in common, apart from their literary brilliance,糖心传媒� says Schwartz, 糖心传媒渋s what I see as their potential appeal to the Western reader. These are books I’d like to share with the American audience.糖心传媒�

I don’t read this as Marian seeking out pulpy best-sellers that Americans with Twilight for, but rather that her role is bringing interesting works of Russian literature to Americans—blending her knowledge of U.S. readers and academics with her expertise in Russian lit.

Marian really is a hero and having the chance to meet her in person is one of the reasons I encourage all emerging translators to attend ALTA.

Our old Open Letter pal won the Big Book last year for his Letter-Book (Pis糖心传媒檓ovnik), with Vladimir Sorokin糖心传媒檚 The Blizzard (Metel糖心传媒�) coming in second and Dmitry Bykov糖心传媒檚 Ostromov, or the Sorcerer糖心传媒檚 Apprentice (Ostromov, ili Uchenik charodeya) coming in third. The Big Book Prize fund distributes 6.1 million rubles (~$183k) annually among the first, second, and third prize winners, and is sponsored by a number of Russian businesses and banks along with the Russian Ministries of Culture and Print, Media and Mass Broadcasting.

There will be a at Book Expo American next Thursday at 10am featuring past winners Mikhail Shishkin, Dmitry Bykov, Vladimir Makanin, Pavel Basinsky, and, supposedly, the Big Book finalists:The way the wording on Read Russia糖心传媒檚 website describes the event (“Big Book Prize: Presentation of the Big Book Prize, Russia糖心传媒檚 most prestigious literary award, plus a 糖心传媒淢eet and Greet糖心传媒� with prize winners.”), I still can糖心传媒檛 tell if they are really planning on announcing the 2012 Big Book winner at BEA, which would be awesome, or if they were just trying to present to an American audience the idea of the Big Book Award and will make the announcement for the prize winner in November, as stated in .

The shortlist features a number of readers whom neither I nor Lisa have read, both of us are only familiar with Prilepin糖心传媒檚 Black Monkey, so we have a lot to catch up on before the prizewinner is (allegedly) announced in November! Without any further ado, here is the shortlist, in English no less (!), with transliteration and translation provided by Lisa herself.

• Maria Galina: 袦械写胁械写泻懈 (Mole-Crickets)
• Daniil Granin: 袦芯泄 谢械泄褌械薪邪薪褌糖心传媒� (My Lieutenant . . .)
• Aleksandr Grigorenko: 袦褝斜褝褌. 袠褋褌芯褉懈褟 褔械谢芯胁械泻邪 褌邪泄谐懈 (Mebet. The Story of a Person from the Taiga)
• Vladimir Gubailovsky: 校褔懈褌械谢褜 褑懈薪懈蟹屑邪 (The Teacher of Cynicism)
• Andrei Dmitriev: 袣褉械褋褌褜褟薪懈薪 懈 褌懈薪械泄写卸械褉 (The Peasant and the Teenager)
• Aleksandr Kabakov, Evgenii Popov: 袗泻褋褢薪芯胁 (Aksyonov)
• Vladimir Makanin: 袛胁械 褋械褋褌褉褘 懈 袣邪薪写懈薪褋泻懈泄 (Two Sisters and Kandinsky)
• Sergei Nosov: 肖褉邪薪褋褍邪蟹邪, 懈谢懈 袩褍褌褜 泻 谢械写薪懈泻褍 (Fran莽oise, Or the Way to the Glacier)
• Valerii Popov: 袩谢褟褋邪褌褜 写芯褋屑械褉褌懈 (To Dance to Death)
• Zakhar Prilepin: 效褢褉薪邪褟 芯斜械蟹褜褟薪邪 (The Black Monkey)
• Andrei Rubanov: 小褌褘写薪褘械 锌芯写胁懈谐懈 (Shameful Feats/Exploits)
• Marina Stepnova: 袞械薪褖懈薪褘 袥邪蟹邪褉褟 (The Women of Lazarus/Lazarus糖心传媒檚 Women)
• Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov): 芦袧械褋胁褟褌褘械 褋胁褟褌褘械禄 懈 写褉褍谐懈械 褉邪褋褋泻邪蟹褘 (糖心传媒淯nsaintly Saints糖心传媒� and Other Stories)
• Lena Eltang: 袛褉褍谐懈械 斜邪褉邪斜邪薪褘 (Other Drums)

A huge thanks to for her tireless work in alerting English readers to what糖心传媒檚 going on in the world of Russian literature. Check out her posts for reviews and insider tips on what糖心传媒檚 going on in the world of Russian literature, and I hope to meet her at BEA next week!

According to the fine folks at READ RUSSIA: “Russia糖心传媒檚 4,000-square-foot BEA exhibition space at the Javits Center will host presentations for industry professionals on the Russian book market, Russian literature in translation, and new works by Russian writers, publishers, historians, and journalists.”

Open Letter糖心传媒檚 own , whose incredible English-language debut, , comes out October 13, will be one of the many contemporary Russian writers present at BEA. He糖心传媒檚 part of a with Andrei Gelasimov, and will sit in on the presentation of the 糖心传媒淏ig Book糖心传媒� (Bol糖心传媒檚haya Kniga) Award Thursday at 10am.