Bibliofemme News
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06/05/2005
Man Booker prize announce translators award
The Man Booker prize organisation yesterday announced a special translation award as part of its international fiction prize. The first winner of the £15,000 prize will be announced early next month.
The prize has partly been inspired by the fact that the judges shortlist of 17 books, includes 10 authors who wrote in another language. The winning author would receive a prize of £60,000 with nothing for the translator.
"The judges became increasingly aware of the huge role translators play," said their chairman, John Carey.
The news delighted the UK Translators Association, "some translators get paid less than £70 a thousand words, which is the Association's recommended rate", said Dorothy Sym, secretary of the Association, "also publishers can be very resistant to including a royalty clause, preferring to offer the payment as a lump sum, with no future payment even if the book becomes a bestseller."
Those been considered for the prize include the translators of Gabriel García Márquez, Günter Grass, Milan Kundera, Stanislaw Lem, Naguib Mahfouz, Tomas Eloy Martínez and Kenzaburo Oe. The winning author will decide which translator gets the prize, with discretion to split it among several translators.
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