FILTER TRANSLATION AWARDS 2024: Two great translation awards for two great translations

Outstanding, wonderful, wonderful - the juries of the two Filter Translation Prizes 2024 were short of words to sing the praises of all 10 nominated translations of the past year. All the nominees made translations so good that the juries became genuinely happy reading them. Still, a choice had to be made: one translated work for adults and one translated children's book stood out for the jury.

They are translations with a soul, the jury said; in both works, playfulness and creativity burst from the pages. In Maria Postema's translation, every word hits the mark. From the jury report: 'In the brilliant imagery used by the young protagonist, she unites her mother's passionate powers of observation with her father's orderly calm. Postema finds exactly that balance in the translation. Her refined choices evoke precisely the clear images that touch the reader so deeply. Julia and the shark reads as if it were written in Dutch.'

And with his translation of Beauty on earth once again demonstrates Rokus Hofstede's absolute mastery, says the jury: 'This translation expands the contemporary literary possibilities of Dutch, just as the book expanded the possibilities of the source language a century ago. Rokus Hofstede holds course from beginning to end in this swirling, undulating, constantly off-track text, like an intrepid captain. He manages to approach the text with the same playfulness and pleasure as the original author.'

About the Filter Translation Awards

The prize money for both prizes amounts to €10,000 and was made available by the GAU (Group of General Publishers) and the CPNB (Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek). Both organisations thus express the importance they attach to good translations and translators. The prizes are awarded in cooperation with the ILFU International Literature Festival Utrecht by Stichting Filter and are a reward for the translator's creativity in solving translation problems arising from the particular, special nature of the work to be translated.

Other nominees

In addition to the above winners, this year's nominees were:

• Lore Aertsen for Tess Watercress By Gregory Maguire (Publisher The Unicorn)
• Kiki Coumans for The age of destroying By Pauline Peyrade (Wings)
• Jan Fastenau for This other paradise by Paul Harding (Querido)
• Robbert-Jan Henkes for Bethany and the beast. The return of the beast By Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Querido Kind)
• Inge Piryns for The mouse that ate cats by Gianni Rodari (Borgerhoff & Llamberigts)
• Liesbeth van Nes for The unnamed café By Robert Seethaler (The Bezige Bij)
• Annelous Stiggelbout for The Nail by Zhang Yueran (Prometheus)
• Bette Westera for Ukkie and little Pukkie by Lu Fraser with illustrations by Kate Hindley (Querido Child)

The juries

The jury of the Filter Translation Prize 2024 consisted of Joost Baars, Jacqueline Bel, Yond Boeke, Anna Eble and Brigit Kooijman.

The jury of the Filter Translation Prize for Children's & Young People's Books 2024 consisted of Anne van Buul, Nathifa Elshot, Enne Koens, Daan Stoffelsen and Eva Wissenburg.

The winners were announced live on Tuesday 1 October 2024 in the Theatre Hall of the Library on the Neude in Utrecht, during the ILFU International Literature Festival Utrecht. The extensive jury report can be read at www.tijdschrift-filter.nl and on www.ilfu.com.

ILFU - International Literature Festival Utrecht

ILFU is the largest literature festival in the Netherlands as well as a daily online platform for literature. Recurring festival elements are the Book Talks with international and national authors, Exploring Stories: writers on urgent contemporary themes, Young Adult Literature Festival Utrecht (YALFU) and programmes for new talent such as the NK Poetry Slam. The Night of Poetry annually forms the festive conclusion of the festival.