English translation of Anne Vegter by Astrid Alben wins prize
PEN Translates Awards for ‘Island mountain glacier’
22 December 2021
The poetry collection Island mountain glacier, the English translation of Anne Vegter’s Eiland berg gletsjer by Astrid Alben (Prototype Publishing, February 2022) has received one of the English PEN Translates Awards. It is remarkable that the translation already won prizes before it was published. The translation was made possible with a subsidy from the Dutch Foundation for Literature.
The English PEN Translation Awards is an annual award for translations from any language into English. The prize has been awarded since 1963, and consists of a cash prize of $3,000 for the translator of the winning book, in this case Astrid Alben. This year, 18 books from 15 countries and in 13 different languages were awarded prizes.
On the selection of winners, Will Forester, Head of Translations at English PEN, says:
‘Not only are these eighteen books exceptional works of literature, but they also attest to the current vitality of translated literature publishing. This is the most publishers ever awarded in a single PEN Translates round.’
The original of Island Mountain Glacier was published by Querido in 2011. The Dutch-English translator Astrid Alben, herself a poet, provided the English translation for the collection.