In this last piece before our winter break, we focus on our most recent awards for translations published in English, which we bestow in collaboration with two partner organizations. Our Translation Awards honor Lois Roth’s advocacy for the use of literary study as a means to understand foreign cultures.
On December 10, the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) announced the presentation of the 17th MLA-Roth Award for the translation of a book-length literary work into English. This year’s Award is shared by the translators of two different books.
- Fabio Battista (Asst. Prof. of Italian, Univ. of AL Tuscaloosa), for his translation of The Queen of Scots/La Reina di Scotia (U. Toronto Pr.), a drama written by Federico Della Valle just after the Queen’s execution in 1587. This compre-hensive bilingual edition makes Della Valle’s important and influential play available for the first time in English. “Battista’s impeccable translation—lucid, energetic and accurate—is supported by a generous and enlightening apparatus. Its publication is a major event in the fields of comparative early modern drama, translation studies and studies of Anglo-Italian relations in early modernity.”
- Clarissa Clò (Prof. of European Studies, San Diego State) and Donatella Melucci (Tchg. Prof. of Italian, Georgetown), for their translation of Amir Issaa’s This Is What I Live For: An Afro-Italian Hip-Hop Memoir (San Diego State U. Pr.). “A pioneering Afro-Italian hip-hop artist and antiracism advocate, Issaa is the living, vibrating fulcrum around which [this] bilingual edition celebrates the joys of collaboration and community building across continents, people and disciplines.” Originally a student translation project at Georgetown, the volume is enriched by an author’s prelude, personal photos and a range of essays, including on the collaborative translation process undertaken by the translators.
An MLA-Roth Honorable Mention went to David Font-Navarrete (Asst. Prof. of Music, Lehman College & CUNY Grad. Center), for his translation of Lydia Cabrera’s El Monte: Notes on the Religions, Magic, Superstitions, and Folklore of the Black and Creole People of Cuba (Duke U. Pr.). “This first English translation of Cabrera’s groundbreaking compendium on the history, sources, rites and customs of Afro-Cuban culture is a masterpiece. The introduction and translator’s notes help us understand el monte—the forest, a place where the appetites of humans are shared by gods, and the healing essence of the forest appears in all its glory.”
The American Association of Iranian Studies (AIIrS), our partner for the Persian Translation Prize, announced that Dick Davis (Ohio State Univ.) won this year’s 15th edition of the prize for his two most recent volumes. Layli and Majnun (Penguin Classics) and Khosrow and Shirin (Mage) capture the most celebrated epic romances of Nezami Ganjavi. A master of the Masnavi style of double-rhymed verse, Nezami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, in part for his innovation of a colloquial and realistic style. Offering the highest praise for these volumes, the jury wrote: “Davis’s translations exhibit the height of his own poetic ingenuity through his impeccable use of iambic pentameter with end rhymes. So fluently and naturally written, his translations could stand as original poems.”
As AIIrS President Anne Betteridge points out, “The nuanced translations honored by the Prize introduce readers to literary and cultural worlds they would not otherwise be able to enter.” Over the years, Davis has made an immense contribution to the field. This year’s awarded volumes join his translations of Vis and Ramin (2012) and The Conference of the Birds (with Afkham Darband, 2002) in offering global English-language readers a window into the range of classical Persian poetry of the 11th and 12th centuries. At the other end of the spectrum, he won the inaugural Prize in 2000 for introducing the 20th-century Iranian author Iraj Pezeshkzad to readers, with his hilarious novel My Uncle Napoleon.
The Persian Translation Prize is the sole existing award for outstanding translations of classical and modern Persian literature into English. Lois Roth’s interest in and affection for Iran and Iranian culture dated back to the years she lived and worked in Iran (1967-72)—first as USIA’s Deputy Cultural Attaché and then as the Director of the Iran America Society. In a period when Iran was in a ferment of cultural activity and experimentation, this important bi-national organization, which focused on English language learning, cultural exchanges, and fine and performing arts, became one of the most significant centers for such endeavors in the country. Lois was also one of a group of persons who helped initiate and encourage the founding of the American Institute of Iranian Studies.
Wishing you happy and healthy holidays… and happy reading in the New Year!
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