Which Is Your Favourite Translated Book of 2024?
This year’s Day Awards (partnership) has a number of categories:
Best Localized Video Game 2024
Best Translated Book 2024
Best Linguist Industry Tool 2024
Best Localized Movie 2024
Best Localized TV Show 2024.
Best Translated Book 2024
The shortlisted books in the Best Translated Book 2024 category are:
- A Incrível Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood
- El infinito en un junco by Irene Vallejo
- You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue
- Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop
A Incrível Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood
A Incrível Grace Adams is a New York Times bestseller published in 2023 narrating a hellish day in the day of a middle-aged London woman who sees her life fall apart. From a linguistic point of view, the fact that Grace is a French teacher and loves learning languages is a great hook for those who also love foreign languages. The Portuguese translation of the book is one of the finalists in the Day Awards.
El infinito en un junco by Irene Vallejo
El infinito en un junco is a Spanish book published in 2019 about ancient worlds. It has been translated into 40 languages and has sold more than a million copies. It is a homage to classic Greek and Roman cultures with a gripping style that earned the author, a historian and philologist from Spain, several raving reviews as well as many literary prizes.
You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue
You Dreamed of Empires is the re-imagination of how the Aztec empire was colonised in 1519 and how Mexico City was built from the creative and humourous Mexican author Alvaro Enrigue. Published in 2023, the book mixes historical facts with pure fiction as well as a healthy dose of hilarious commentary. Written in Spanish and translated into English, the book takes various flights of fantasy with plenty of hallucinations and vivid descriptions of smells, sights and sounds.
Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop
Beyond the Door of No Return was originally published in 2021 and has received positive reviews.It The book aims to retrace how a French naturalist would have travelled in Africa in the 1700s, with some elements of fiction.
The book won the International Booker Prize and it was translated from the French into English.
The shortlist features some interesting titles that have gained attention internationally. Translating books into other languages is complex and requires not only the technical knowledge that is necessary to reproduce the text in another idiom, but also advanced skills like being able to transpose humour and cultural sensitivities without losing meaning.