Things not written in English
The winners of the 2013 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards have been announced:
Long Form Winner
Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City by Kai-cheung Dung,translated from the Chinese by Anders Hansson, Bonnie S. McDougall, and the author (Columbia University Press)
Long Form Honorable Mentions
Belka, Why Don't You Bark? by Hideo Furukawa, translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich (Haikasoru)
Kaytek the Wizard by Janusz Korczak, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Penlight)
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, translated from the Russian by Olena Bormashenko (Chicago Review Press)
Short Form Winner
“Augusta Prima” by Karin Tidbeck translated from the Swedish by the author (Jagannath: Stories, Cheeky Frawg)
Short Form Honorable Mentions
“Every Time We Say Goodbye” by Zoran Vlahović, translated from the Croatian by Tatjana Jambrišak, Goran Konvićni, and the author (Kontakt: An Anthology of Croatian SF, Darko Macan and Tatjana Jambrišak, editors, SFera)
“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld #65)
“A Single Year” by Csilla Kleinheincz, translated from the Hungarian by the author (The Apex Book of World SF #2, Lavie Tidhar, editor, Apex Book Company)
Every time I see Belka, Why Don't You Bark? it strikes me how wrong the English transcription of Cyrillic is. The first time I had to look up the actual name because I knew this was wrong but wasn't sure where. If you just heard someone call their dog by that name and had to write it down it would be like "Biewka". "Belka" doesn't even sound close. And this happens to Russian names all the time. And Kaytek name was changed to be easier to pronounce correctly for English speakers. Luckily, Srugatskys' names are close enough.
When I looked at this list I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. Kaytek the Wizard was one of the books of my childhood. I think it was my favourite of Janusz Korczak children's books as it wasn't as sad as the King Matt books. Of course now they all fill me sadness for a different reason.
Roadside Picnic is my favourite Strugatskys' book and if you haven't read it yet you should take this opportunity to do it.
Long Form Winner
Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City by Kai-cheung Dung,translated from the Chinese by Anders Hansson, Bonnie S. McDougall, and the author (Columbia University Press)
Long Form Honorable Mentions
Belka, Why Don't You Bark? by Hideo Furukawa, translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich (Haikasoru)
Kaytek the Wizard by Janusz Korczak, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Penlight)
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, translated from the Russian by Olena Bormashenko (Chicago Review Press)
Short Form Winner
“Augusta Prima” by Karin Tidbeck translated from the Swedish by the author (Jagannath: Stories, Cheeky Frawg)
Short Form Honorable Mentions
“Every Time We Say Goodbye” by Zoran Vlahović, translated from the Croatian by Tatjana Jambrišak, Goran Konvićni, and the author (Kontakt: An Anthology of Croatian SF, Darko Macan and Tatjana Jambrišak, editors, SFera)
“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld #65)
“A Single Year” by Csilla Kleinheincz, translated from the Hungarian by the author (The Apex Book of World SF #2, Lavie Tidhar, editor, Apex Book Company)
Every time I see Belka, Why Don't You Bark? it strikes me how wrong the English transcription of Cyrillic is. The first time I had to look up the actual name because I knew this was wrong but wasn't sure where. If you just heard someone call their dog by that name and had to write it down it would be like "Biewka". "Belka" doesn't even sound close. And this happens to Russian names all the time. And Kaytek name was changed to be easier to pronounce correctly for English speakers. Luckily, Srugatskys' names are close enough.
When I looked at this list I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. Kaytek the Wizard was one of the books of my childhood. I think it was my favourite of Janusz Korczak children's books as it wasn't as sad as the King Matt books. Of course now they all fill me sadness for a different reason.
Roadside Picnic is my favourite Strugatskys' book and if you haven't read it yet you should take this opportunity to do it.