Antonia Lloyd-Jones, photo from the private archives of the translator.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones won the 2012 Found in Translation Award, the prize given for the best translation of Polish into English.
The Found in Translation Award is, with the Transatlantyk Award, the highest distinction given to translators of Polish literature abroad. Traditionally, the award is presented to a translator for the outstanding translation of the year of a single book into English. This time, however, the jury made an exception, not singling out one book translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones last year, but recognizing the entirety of her literary achievements for 2012.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones has been actively translating Polish prose and documentaries, publishing an astonishing seven translations in 2012.
"She has made an enormous impression with the quality of her translations on the one hand, and on the other with her versatility”, noted Grzegorz Gauden, director of the Polish Book Institute. “In only one year, she has published a collection of stories, and a novel, a biography, reportage and a classic work of children’s literature.
The quality of her work continues to gain acclaim; her books have been nominated for several other literary awards.
The full list of her translations for 2012 includes Paweł Huelle's Cold Sea Stories (Comma Press, 2012), Jacek Dehnel's Saturn (Dedalus Press, 2012), Zygmunt Miłoszewski's A Grain of Truth (Bitter Lemon Press, 2012), Artur Domosławski's Ryszard Kapuściński, A Life (Verso Books, 2012), Wojciech Jagielski's The Night Wanderers (Seven Stories & Old Street Publishing, 2012), Andrzej Szczeklik's Kore: On Sickness, the Sick and the Search for the Soul of Medicine (Counterpoint Press, 2012) and Janusz Korczak's Kaytek the Wizard (Urim Publications/Penlight Press, 2012).
An award in the amount of 10,000 złoty (almost 2,500 euro), funded by the publisher W.A.B., will be presented on the 15th of November at the London Review Bookshop, at a reading with the translator and author Jacek Dehnel. Lloyd-Jones is being honored for the second time, having received the Found in Translation award in 2008 for The Last Supper by Paweł Huelle.
The prize is awarded annually to the translator of the best translation of Polish literature into English in the form of a book in the previous calendar year. The winner receives a cash prize, as mentioned above, a certificate, as well as a three-month residency in Kraków, funded by the Polish Book Institute.
Earlier winners are Bill Johnston for his translation of Tadeusz Różewicz’s New Poems in 2007, Antonia Lloyd-Jones for Huelle’s The Last Supper in 2008, Danuta Borchardt for Witold Gombrowicz’s Pornography in 2009, Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak for their translation of Here by Wisława Szymborska in 2010, as well as Joanna Trzeciak for selected poems by Tadeusz Różewicz, Sobbing Superpower, in 2011.
Source: instytutksiazki.pl, edited by mg, 25/07/2013
Translation: LB 25/07/2013