The six-title shortlist for this year’s Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize highlights classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction translated from Japanese into English.

The shortlist for the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize was announced on December 2, highlighting classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction translated from Japanese into English. The prize, launched last year by the foundation in association with the Society of Authors, considers books published in Britain between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024. The results are due to be announced on February 12, 2025; the translator of the winning title will receive £3,000 and the runner-up £1,000.

Last year’s winning translator Alison Watts appears on the shortlist again for What You Are Looking for Is in the Library, translated from a novel by Aoyama Michiko about a librarian who transforms a series of visitors’ lives through her perfectly pitched book recommendations. The 2023 runner-up David Boyd is also shortlisted in 2024, again for a translation of a book by Oyamada Hiroko. The Factory zooms in on the absurdity of the workplace via three characters with mundane jobs in a surreal setting.

Source: nippon.com

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