I would like to thank the judges for selecting Alejandra Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962-1972 for this year糖心传媒檚 Best Translated Book Award for poetry. (It was 2 AM in Switzerland when I heard the news. I was up late doing my Portuguese homework.) Heartfelt gratitude to my brilliant editors at New Directions糖心传媒擳ynan Kogane, Jeffrey Yang, and Barbara Epler糖心传媒攆or everything they did to bring this book into the world. Thank you, as well, to Ana Becciu and M贸nica de la Torre, for their commitment to Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 poetry, and to Mieke Chew for accepting the award in my absence. And, finally, thank you, Chad and everyone at Open Letter, for doing the remarkable work you do on behalf of literature and/in translation.

There are always those books that obsess you and won糖心传媒檛 let you go. Alejandra Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 devastating work is like that. I was 20 years old when I entered her tortured world (the lilacs, the dolls, the cadavers and gardens and crows). Sometimes, what begins as an obsession will flourish into an impulse to translate. That impulse becomes a full creative act, akin to writing a novel or gathering the pieces for a poetry collection. It was never my conscious ambition to become a literary translator, but like Pizarnik, I am the daughter of immigrants and have been translating and interpreting since childhood, so nothing could feel more natural, more grounding. Her writing teemed with an urgency that resonated deeply and that practically demanded my advocacy. It felt like a relentless kinship. What糖心传媒檚 more, the desire to find an English for these vibrant, harrowing poems came from an almost tactile artistic need. The result is that I grew up while translating Pizarnik. The experience was exhilarating, often brutal. Our minds got very close; our languages matured together; and her solitude inhabited and changed me. As I translated and revised, I was often the same age as Alejandra when she was writing collections like Diana糖心传媒檚 Tree and A Musical Hell. Soon I will be older than she was when she died, and that feels like uncharted territory. It糖心传媒檚 at once thrilling and terrifying to receive a prize for something that has been a part of my life like this.

The book糖心传媒檚 title comes from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch called De keisnijding (1494; Prado Museum, Madrid), which, in English, is known interchangeably as The Cure for Folly or Cutting the Stone or The Extraction of the Stone of Madness. This work depicts trepanation, a medieval surgical technique believed to relieve various diseases, like migraine, and to remove madness, which was believed to manifest as a tumor in the skull. I opted for the gerund extracting in the title in order to convey the actual process depicted in Bosch糖心传媒檚 piece, which in a way parallels Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 process of creation.

C茅sar Aira once said that Alejandra Pizarnik 糖心传媒渨as not only a great poet, she was the greatest, and the last.糖心传媒� To hear from readers and writers who have been changed and wrecked by this book has been an extraordinary privilege. I am grateful to the BTBA for this opportunity to share Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 work.

糖心传媒擸vette Siegert
May 2017

Museo del Prado.

With four books on the Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist, Margaret Jull Costa had pretty good odds that one of her projects would win the prize. This is the first time Jull Costa, Robin Patterson, and Open Letter Books have received the award.

According to BTBA judge Jeremy Garber (Powell糖心传媒檚 Books), 糖心传媒淭hough it took longer than 50 years to finally appear in English, L煤cio Cardoso糖心传媒檚 Chronicle of the Murdered House was well worth the wait. Epic in scope and stunning in its execution, the late Brazilian author糖心传媒檚 1959 masterpiece is a resounding accomplishment. Thanks to the translational prowess of Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson, Cardoso糖心传媒檚 saga of familial scheming and salacious scandal deservingly comes to an even wider audience.”

Fellow judge Mark Haber (Brazos Bookstore) adds “Chronicle has hints of Dostoyevsky, Garcia Marquez and William Faulkner, yet the DNA is wholly Cardoso’s, who was not only a friend, but a mentor to Clarice Lispector. This novel is not only beautifully written and strangely profound, but a joy to read. The dramas of a prestigious family in a provincial Brazilian jungle, complete with gossip, backstabbing, cross-dressing and suicide attempts all take place beneath a single roof. There糖心传媒檚 a fully-formed universe in this run-down mansion rotting away in the woods. Chronicle of the Murdered House is a novel about family, trust, madness, betrayal, human nature, all heavy themes really, yet handled with aplomb. . . . its translation feels long overdue.”

Extracting the Stone of Madness is the fourth collection of Alejandra Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 to be translated by Yvette Siegert, but the first to win the Best Translated Book Award. It is published by New Directions糖心传媒攚ho has won the BTBA on three past occasions, twice for fiction, once for poetry糖心传媒攁nd collects all of Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 middle and late works, including some posthumous pieces.

Judge Emma Ramadan (Riffraff Bookstore) said, 糖心传媒淭he judges were extremely impressed by Donald Nicholson-Smith’s translation of Abdellatif La芒bi’s In Praise of Defeat, but ultimately chose Yvette Siegert’s translation of Alejandra Pizarnik’s Extracting the Stone of Madness as this year’s poetry winner. It’s a book screaming and barking with jagged solitude and beautiful pain, each poem’s broken melody attempting to fill a void we can all see lurking. Yvette Siegert perfectly inhabits Pizarnik’s tortuous, vivid world and allows us to do the same.”

For the sixth year in a row, the winning books will receive $10,000 each (split equally between the authors and translators) thanks to funding from the Amazon Literary Partnership. Over this period, the Amazon Literary Partnership has contributed more than $120,000 to international authors and their translators through the BTBA.

糖心传媒淏y sharing new voices with English-language readers, the Best Translated Book Awards highlight literary excellence from around the globe while also shrinking the world a bit, fostering empathy through storytelling,糖心传媒� said Neal Thompson, Amazon糖心传媒檚 Director of Author and Publishing Relations. 糖心传媒淭he Amazon Literary Partnership is proud to continue its support of the diverse voices of BTBA糖心传媒檚 international authors and their translators.糖心传媒�

Nine judges served on this year糖心传媒檚 fiction jury: Trevor Berrett (The Mookse and the Gripes), Monica Carter (Salonica World Lit), Rachel Cordasco (Speculative Fiction in Translation), Jennifer Croft (translator, co-founder of the Buenos Aires Review), Lori Feathers (Interabang Books), Jeremy Garber (Powell糖心传媒檚 Books), Mark Haber (writer, Brazos Bookstore), George Henson (World Literature Today, Latin American Literature Today, University of Oklahoma), and Steph Opitz (Marie Claire).

The poetry jury was made up of: Jarrod Annis (Greenlight Bookstore), Katrine 脴gaard Jensen (EuropeNow), Tess Lewis (writer and translator), Becka McKay (writer and translator), and Emma Ramadan (translator, Riffraff Bookstore).

Past winners of the fiction award include: Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman; The Last Lover by Can Xue, translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen; Seiobo There Below and Satantango, both by L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai, and translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet and George Szirtes respectively; Stone Upon Stone by Wies艂aw My艣liwski, translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston; and The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal.

In terms of the poetry award, past winners include: Rilke Shake by Ang茅lica Freitas, translated from the Portuguese by Hilary Kaplan; Diorama by Roc铆o Cer贸n, translated from the Spanish by Anna Rosenwong; The Guest in the Wood by Elisa Biagini, translated from the Italian by Diana Thow, Sarah Stickney, and Eugene Ostashevsky; Wheel with a Single Spoke by Nichita St膬nescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter; and Spectacle & Pigsty by Kiwao Nomura, translated from the Japanese by Kyoko Yoshida and Forrest Gander.

The entry below is by Katrine 脴gaard Jensen, who is one of the founding editors of a journal of political research, literature, and art at Columbia University. She previously served as editor in chief of the Columbia Journal and blog editor at Asymptote and Words Without Borders.

by Alejandra Pizarnik, translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert (Argentina, New Directions)

Chad糖心传媒檚 Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Making the Shortlist: 92%

Chad糖心传媒檚 Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Winning the BTBA: 37%

Had Poe lived to read Alejandra Pizarnik, she would have given him nightmares. Revered by writers such as Octavio Paz, Roberto Bola帽o, and C茅sar Aira糖心传媒攖he latter calling her 糖心传媒渢he greatest, and the last糖心传媒� poet糖心传媒擯izarnik is one of the most important contributors to twentieth-century Argentine poetry. Known for her lyricism and concession to misery, Pizarnik wrote of terror, suffering, estrangement, and death, but also of love and tenderness. She wrote seven books of poetry and one book of prose before ending her life at age 36 in 1972.

Extracting the Stone of Madness, published by New Directions and unbearably, stunningly translated by Yvette Siegert, comprises all of Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 middle to late work, as well as a selection of posthumously published verse. A reader unfamiliar with Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 life and work might flip through the first couple of pages and find her poems gentle, romantic even. Lines like 糖心传媒淢ay your body always be / a beloved space for revelations糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淥nly you can turn my memory / into a fascinated traveler, / a relentless fire糖心传媒� could fool anyone. It doesn糖心传媒檛 take many minutes of reading, however, before the romance turns into a bitter longing (糖心传媒淵ou speak like the night. / You announce yourself like thirst糖心传媒�) followed by a violent absence (糖心传媒淭he wind had eaten away / parts of my face and my hands.糖心传媒�)

Upon finishing this initial section, Works and Nights (1965), the first-time Pizarnik reader might feel as if they are somewhat prepared for section two, Extracting the Stone of Madness (1968). They are not.

The title poem references a circa 1494 painting by Hieronymus Bosch titled The Cure of Folly (or The Extraction of the Stone of Madness, or Cutting the Stone) depicting a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled deep into the skull of a 糖心传媒渇ool糖心传媒澨切拇綌a medieval practice once believed to relieve mental disorders.

The bad light is near and nothing is real. When I think of all that I糖心传媒檝e read of the spirit 糖心传媒� when I closed my eyes, I saw luminous bodies turning in the mist, on the site of tenuous dwellings. Don糖心传媒檛 be afraid, no one will come after you. All the grave robbers have gone. Silence, always silence; the gold coins of sleep.

I speak the way I speak inside. Not with the voice intent on sounding human, but with the other one, the one that insists I糖心传媒檓 still a creature of the forest.

糖心传媒攆rom the poem 糖心传媒淓xtracting the Stone of Madness糖心传媒�

In this phenomenally eerie section, Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 poems turn into feverish dreamscapes occupied by solitary women dressed in blue or red, fetuses of scorpions, mirrors, lilacs, and sorcery. Similar motifs extend into the next section of the book, A Musical Hell (1971), which references another painting by Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. This title poem refers to the 糖心传媒渉ell糖心传媒� panel of Bosch糖心传媒檚 famous triptych, depicting musicians playing on instruments that are simultaneously used for torture.

Like in Bosch糖心传媒檚 hell, the horror in Extracting the Stone of Madness is inescapable. Every Pizarnik poem is a step down a phantom staircase, an insomniac descent leading to the final text of the book: a poem that was found written in chalk on a blackboard in the poet糖心传媒檚 workroom after her suicide.

So why should anyone read this disturbing piece of literature, let alone award it with one of the finest translation prizes in the U.S.? Because Pizarnik糖心传媒檚 poetry, and Siegert糖心传媒檚 rendition of it, is inescapable: not due to its terror, but due to its mastery.

The two winning books (for poetry and fiction) will be announced at

Following that, we will be gathering at 5pm at on 92 West Houston St. Anyone interested in celebrating the BTBA and all the authors and translators who published books last year should definitely come out for this.

OK, here are the six poetry collections still in the running for the $10,000 in cash prizes (half to the author, half to the translator):

by Roc铆o Cer贸n, translated from the Spanish by Anna Rosenwong (Mexico, Phoeneme)

by Suzanne Doppelt, translated from the French by Cole Swensen (France, Litmus Press)

by V茅nus Khoury-Ghata, translated from the French by Marilyn Hacker (Lebanon, Curbstone)

by Alejandra Pizarnik, translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert (Argentina, Ugly Duckling)

by Lev Rubinstein, translated from the Russian by Philip Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky (Russia, Ugly Duckling)

by Farhad Showghi, translated from the German by Rosmarie Waldrop (Germany, Burning Deck)

Check back at 10:30 to find out which titles make the fiction shortlist!