The book has been translated into English 25 years after it was originally written (Polish original appeared in 1984). Stone upon Stone is a grand, rural epic, a story of Szymek, a Polish farmer determined to build a tomb for himself after a life of boozing, brawling, fighting in the resistance, serving as a marriage officer, and exaggerating his way through the twentieth century and the modernization of his small town. According to the Times Literary Supplement, Myśliwski’s book is "a marvel of narrative seduction, a rare double masterpiece of storytelling and translation."
Bill Johston, the translator of the book is Director of the Polish Studies Center at Indiana University. He has translated two dozen works, including Tadeusz Różewicz's new poems, for which he won the inaugural Found in Translation award presented to the translator of the finest Polish-English literary translation of the year. His other translations include works by Witold Gombrowicz, Stanisław Lem and Jerzy Pilch. One of Johnston's favourite authors is Magdalena Tulli and his translation of W czerwieni/ In Red was also shortlisted for this year's Best Translated Book Award.
Both books were published by Archipelago Books, a small non-profit publishing house from Brooklyn, specialising in translations of foreign literaure. The award for Stone upon Stone was already the second award for Archipelago Books in the history of the prize. In 2009 the award went to Tranquility by Attila Bartis.
The verdict came on the evening of May 4th 2012 the winners being announced at McNally Jackson Books in New York as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.
In poetry, Kiwao Nomura’s Spectacle & Pigsty, translated from the Japanese by Kyoko Yoshida and Forrest Gander, took the top honor.
Thanks to the support of Amazon.com, since last year a prize of $20,000 is distributed among the winning authors and translators. Each winning book will receive $10,000 of prize money to be divided among the author and translators.
Source: www.rochester.edu, mg