Vietnamese translated works win British literary prize

The English versions of Biên Sử Nước (Water: A Chronicle) by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư and Thang Máy Sài Gòn (Elevator In Sài Gòn) by Thuận. Photos courtesy of Major Books and Tilted Axis Press

HÀ NỘI Two titles translated from Vietnamese have been announced as winners of PEN Translates, a prestigious literary prize that honours the best translations of literary works from around the world into the English language.

This is the first time that two translated works from Việt Nam – Biên Sử Nước (Water: A Chronicle) by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư, published by Major Books, and Thang Máy Sài Gòn (Elevator In Sài Gòn) by Thuận, published by Tilted Axis Press – have appeared in the same list. Both of them were translated by translator Nguyễn An Lý.

Water: A Chronicle and Elevator In Sài Gòn are among the 16 winners of PEN Translates award this year, from eleven different regions and from ten original languages, spanning various genres including novels, short story collections, non-fiction, verse drama and young adult literature.

Water: A Chronicle was published in Việt Nam in 2020, and is the second novel by writer Nguyễn Ngọc Tư, following her 2012 work Sông (River). Tư is well known for her short stories and essays, but both of her novels have been praised for their innovative and creative approach to both content and literary style.

The English edition is set to be released in October. The book consists of 11 chapters, with the content presented in a circular, non-linear structure that lacks a definitive ending. Each chapter reads as an independent short story, based around a story of a great flood which cannot be closed. The Lord with the heart of salvation becomes the central figure and a symbolic representation of the divine.

Elevator In Sài Gòn was introduced to Vietnamese readers in 2013 and was awarded the Bourse de Création in 2013 by the Centre National du Livre (National Book Centre) of France. Its author, Thuận, has previously published several novels written in both French and Vietnamese.

The story is set in the year 2004 and follows a young Vietnamese woman who, after the tragic death of her mother in an elevator, decides to track down a man named Paul Polotski whom her mother had loved back in the Hỏa Lò Prison the night before the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ.

Will Forrester, Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN, said: “These 16 awards are selected from our largest round of submissions to date. The breadth, boldness, originality, risk-taking, spirit and quality exhibited across the submissions and award-winners is staggering – and speaks to the thriving state of translated literature publishing. We’re pleased to be a part of bringing these works to English-language readers, and to be able to support these exceptional writers, translators and publishers.”

Translator Nguyễn An Lý has over twenty translations into Vietnamese, published under various names and in various genres. Photo tiltedaxispress.com

Translator Nguyễn An Lý lives in HCM City and holds an MA from University of York, UK. She has over twenty translations into Vietnamese, published under various names and in various genres, including authors such as Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt, Kazuo Ishiguro, Richard Flanagan, Jorge Luis Borges, and the poetry in The Lord of the Rings.

As an editor, she has worked on translations from Nabokov, A. S. Byatt, Roland Barthes, Joseph Campbell, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Liu Cixin, among others. Chinatown by Thuận, her debut translation into English, won the 2023 ALTA National Translation Award in Prose. She co-founded and co-edits the independent online journal Zzz Review.

The PEN Translates award was established in 2012 with support from the Arts Council England to encourage UK publishers to seek out and promote books from a wider range of languages. Winning projects receive funding of up to 75 per cent of the translation costs for a book. For smaller publishers with annual turnovers under £500,000, the funding support can be considered up to 100 per cent.

There are two submission periods each year – April-May and October-November – for publishers to submit their translated works for consideration.

PEN Translates has now supported 376 books translated from over 90 languages, awarding over £1.2m in grants.  Nineteen PEN Translates-supported books have appeared on International Booker Prize longlists. VNS