JOST A MON

You may recall that nineteen days ago I looked at the winners of the European Union Prize for Literature to see if the translation and promotion support offered by the EU resulted in English translation of their works. My findings, to say the least, were disappointing. 2009 was the first year the prizes were awarded, and I'd have thought the four years since then would have been ample time to sponsor English editions. While my interest in English is parochial, I cannot blame the EU for the lack of English translations: the books have obtained translations into other European languages. I don't know whether it's the deucedly insular Anglophone press to blame, or the widespread feeling that translated fiction doesn't sell in the English world. On the other hand, houses such as And Other Stories and Peirene have managed to get by rather well with a subscription model of publishing, and they have translated works from a multitude of sources. Perhaps similar small presses will be happy to handle the EU Literature prizewinners? Especially when they'll get their translation costs defrayed by the EU?

Well, anyway, here are the 2010 winners. Again, I'm sad to say that I haven't heard of any of them. The ones in red have been translated into English, while the ones in green have other books translated into English. It looks like this crop has managed more or less the same (three out of 11) as the previous year's (four out of 12).

1. Belgium: Peter Terrin, De Bewaker (The Guard)
2. Cyprus: Myrto Azina Chronides, To Peirama (The Experiment)
3. Denmark: Adda Djørup, Den mindste modstand (The Least Resistance)
4. Estonia: Tiit Aleksejev, Palveränd (The Pilgrimage)
5. Finland: Riku Korhonen, Lääkäriromaani (The First Aid Book)
6. Germany: Iris Hanika, Das Eigentliche (The Bottom Line)
7. Luxembourg: Jean Back, Amateur
8. Romania: Răzvan Rădulescu, Teodosie cel Mic (Theodosius the Small)
9. Slovenia: Nataša Kramberger, Nebesa v robidah (Heaven in a Blackberry Bush)
10. Spain: Raquel Martínez-Gómez, Sombras de unicornio (Shadows of the Unicorn)
11. Macedonia: Goce Smilevski, Сестрата на Зигмунд Фројд (Freud's Sister)