National Endowment for the Arts Announces Recipients of International Literature AwardsPartnerships with Greece and Spain February 15, 2007
Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts offers the NEA International Literature Awards to provide American readers with greater access to quality foreign literary work in translation. The NEA conducts this initiative together with partner governments, with the first awards focusing on the literature of Greece and Spain. The NEA announces today that the 2007 award recipients are three nonprofit literary presses that will translate and publish a work from these countries and promote the book to American readers. The three American presses that each will receive a $10,000 NEA award are Archipelago Books of Brooklyn, NY; Dalkey Archive Press of Champaign, IL; and Etruscan Press of Wilkes-Barre, PA.
The awards to the three literary presses will be matched independently by the partner nation. For the Greek works, the Embassy of Greece will award a matching $10,000 grant with support from the National Book Center in Athens. For the Spanish work, the Ministry of Culture, through the Embassy of Spain, will make a matching award. The support can be used for all elements of the process including translator fees, publication costs, and public outreach activities such as author and translator tours or educational programs. NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said, "Translation provides Americans with as direct a connection as possible to both the individual voice of the author and the heart of a culture. The National Endowment for the Arts is delighted to work with Greece and Spain to connect our people through the power of literature." The projects are listed below. Archipelago Books, Inc., Brooklyn, NYTo support the translation and publication of Vredaman, a novel by Basque writer Unai Elorriaga. Born in Algorta, Gexto, Elorriaga received the prestigious Premio Nacional de Narrative for his first novel, A Streetcar to SP (SPrako tranvia) when he was 27 years old. His second novel, El pelo de Van't Hoff, was released in 2004. Vredaman, is his third. Amaia Gabantxo is a literary translator, writer, and reviewer. Her work has appeared in journals such as Modern Poetry in Translation, Pretext, The Atlanta Review, Metamorphoses, and Transcript. She is currently translating an anthology of contemporary Basque poetry for Arc Publications. Founded in 2003, Archipelago Books publishes and promotes classic and contemporary works of international literature. It has 26 titles in print, originating from Lebanon, Korea, Siberia, Croatia, Poland, Austria, China, Brazil, and others. Archipelago Books collaborates with cultural ministries, consulates, universities, and cultural centers to promote international literature and cultural understanding. Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, ILTo support the translation and publication of I'd Like, a collection of 13 interlinked short stories by Greek author Amanda Michalopoulou. Michalopoulou was born in Athens in 1966 and has written four novels and two collections of short stories, as well as a few children's books. She received the Diavazo literary prize for her debut novel, Wishbone Memories (1996). Although her writing has been translated into several languages, I'd Like will be the first of her books to be translated and published in English. Translator Karen Emmerich has received translation grants, awards, and fellowships from the PEN Translation Fund, the American Research Institute in Turkey, the Mellon Foundation, the Onassis Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and from the Modern Greek Studies Association. She teaches Greek and writing at Columbia University. Dalkey Archive Press was founded in 1980 and publishes more than 20 titles per year, with an emphasis on fiction. It has over 300 books in print representing works from more than 25 countries. From its inception, the Press has emphasized translating or reprinting literary works from around the world. As part of its founding principle, all books are kept permanently in print. Etruscan Press, Wilkes-Barre, PATo support the translation and publication of Amerikaniki Fouga (American Fugue), a novel by Greek author Alexis Stamatis. Born in 1960, Stamatis is the author of eight novels and novellas, as well as six collections of poetry. He has worked as Chief Editor for Foreign Literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House in Greece, in addition to having worked as a journalist, literary critic, and architect. His honors include the 1st Award of the City of Athens. Although some of Stamatis' books have been translated into English, none has yet been published in the United States. Translator Diane Thiel is the author of six books of poetry, nonfiction, and creative writing pedagogy. She has translated the work of Alfonsina Storni, César Vallejo, Sor Juana, and Nikos Kavadias, and has taught several university courses in translation. She will work on this translation with her husband Constantine Hadjilambrinos, a professor at the University of New Mexico. Etruscan Press is a non-profit cooperative of poets and writers working to produce and promote books that nurture dialogue among genres, achieve a distinctive voice, and reshape the literary and cultural histories of which we are a part. ---------------- The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts - both new and established - bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, visit the agency's Web site at www.arts.gov
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