The Premio Valle Inclán is an annual prize for translations into English of full length Spanish language works of literary merit and general interest. The prize was established in 1997. The winner is awarded £3,000 and a runner-up is awarded £1,000.
The 2023 Premio Valle Inclán is now open for submissions.
The 2022 Premio Valle Inclán Winner and Runner-Up
Winner:
Annie McDermott for a translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zárate (Granta)
Runner-Up:
Julia Sanches for a translation of Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernández (And Other Stories)
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The Premio Valle Inclán Prize will close for submissions on 31 March 2023
- The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2023.
- Entries must be translations from Spanish into English but may be from any period and from anywhere in the world.
- Entries must have been first published in the UK between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2023.
- Full Terms and Conditions are listed at the start of the entry form.
- Presented at a ceremony in 2024.
For any queries relating to the prize please contact [email protected]
2022 (presented 2023)
Winner: Annie McDermott for a translation of Wars of the Interior by Joseph Zárate (Granta)
Runner-up: Julia Sanches for a translation of Slash and Burn by Claudia Hernández (And Other Stories)
Shortlist:
Chris Andrews for a translation of The Divorce by César Aira (And Other Stories)
Annie McDermott for a translation of Brickmakers by Selva Almada (Charco Press)
Hannah Kauders for a translation of Las Biuty Queens by Iván Monalisa Ojeda (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion)
Megan McDowell for a translation of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez (Granta)
2021 (presented 2022)
Winner: Fionn Petch for a translation of A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti. (Charco Press)
Runner-up: Lisa Dillman for a translation of A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba.(Granta)
Shortlist: Annie McDermott for a translation of Dead Girls by Selva Almada. (Charco Press)
Sophie Hughes for a translation of Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor. (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Christina MacSweeney for a translation of Ramifications by Daniel Saldaña París.(Charco Press).
2020 (presented 2021)
Winner: Katherine Silver for a translation of The Word of the Speechless by Julio Ramon Ribeyro (New York Review Books)
Runner-up: Anne McLean for a transaltion of Lord of All the Dead by Javier Cercas (MacLehose Press)
Shortlist: Richard Gwyn for a translation of Impossible Loves by Darío Jaramillo (Carcanet Poetry)
Abigail Parry and Serafina Vick for a translation of A Little Body are Many Parts by Legna Rodríguez Iglesias (Bloodaxe Books and the Poetry Translation Centre)
Margaret Jull Costa and Sophie Hughes for a translation of Mac and His Problem by Enrique Vila-Matas (Vintage, PRH)
Megan McDowell for a translation of Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (Oneworld)
2019 (presented 2020)
Winner: Jessica Sequeira for a translation of Land of Smoke by Sara Gallardo (Pushkin Press)
Runner-up: Sophie Hughes for a translation of The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zeran (And Other Stories)
Shortlisted: Nick Caistor for a translation of Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti (Penguin Classics)
Charlotte Coombe for a translation of Fish Soup by Margarita García Robayo (Charco Press)
William Gregory for a translation of The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Plays by Borja Ortiz de Gondra, Blanca Doménech, Victor Sánchez Rodríguez, Vanessa Montfort, and Julio Escalada (Oberon Books)
2018 (presented 2019)
Winner: Megan McDowell for her translation of Seeing Red by Lina Meruane (Atlantic)
Runner-up: Daniel Hahn for his translation of In the Land of Giants by Gabi Martínez (Scribe)
Shortlistees: Simon Deefholts and Kathryn Phillips-Miles for their translation of Inventing Love by Jose Ovejero (Peter Owens Publishers)
Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff for their translation of Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz (Charco Press)
2017 (presented 2018)
Winner: Margaret Jull Costa for her translation of On the Edge by Rafael Chirbes (Harvill Secker)
Commended: Rosalind Harvey for her translation of I’ll Sell You a Dog by Juan Pablo Villalobos (And Other Stories)
2016 (presented 2017)
Winner: Christina MacSweeney for her translation of The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (Granta)
2015 (presented 2016)
Winner: Anne McLean for her translation of Outlaws by Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury)
Commended: Margaret Jull Costa for her translation of Tristana by Benito Pérez Galdós (New York Review Books)
2014
Winner: Nick Caistor, for his translation of An Englishman in Madrid by Eduardo Mendoza (MacLehose Press)
Commended: Margaret Jull Costa for her translation of The Infatuations by Javier Marías (Hamish Hamilton)
2013
Winner: Frank Wynne for his translation of The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto (Heinemann)
Commended: Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia for Traveller of the Century by Andrés Neuman (Pushkin Press)
Commended: Anne McLean for The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Bloomsbury)
2012
Winner: Peter Bush for his translation of Exiled From Almost Everywhere by Juan Goytisolo (Dalkey Archive Press, pictured far right).
Runner-up: Margaret Jull Costa for her translation of Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Axtaga (Harvill Secker).
2011
Winner: Frank Wynne for Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras (Atlantic)
Runner-up: Margaret Jull Costa for The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (Maclehose Press)
2010
Margaret Jull Costa for Your Face Tomorrow 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell by Javier Marías (Chatto) and
Christopher Johnson for the Selected Poetry of Francisco de Quevedo (University of Chicago Press).
2009
Winner: Margaret Jull Costa for The Accordionist’s Son by Bernardo Atxaga (Harvill Secker)
Runner up: Edith Grossman for Happy Families by Carlos Fuentes (Bloomsbury)
2008
Winner: Nick Caistor for The Past by Alan Pauls (Harvill Secker)
and John Dent-Young for Selected Poems by Luis de Góngora (The University of Chicago Press)
2007
Winer: Nick Caistor for The Sleeping Voice by Dulce Chacón (Harvill Secker/Alfaguara)
Runner up: John Cullen for Lies by Enrique de Hériz (Weidenfeld/Edhasa)
2006
Winner: Margaret Jull Costa for Your Face Tomorrow 1: Fever and Spear by Javier Marias (Chatto & Windus)
Runner up: Sonia Soto for The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez (Abacus)
2005
Winner: Chris Andrews for Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño (Harvill)
Runner up: Margaret Jull Costa for The Man of Feeling by Javier Marías (Harvill)
2004
Winner: Anne McLean for Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury)
2003
Winner: Sam Richard for Not Only Fire by Benjamin Prado (Faber and Faber)
2002
Winner: John Rutherford for Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (Penguin)
Runner up: Margaret Sayers Peden for Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende (Flamingo)
2001
Winner: Timothy Adès for Homer in Cuernavaca by Alfonso Reyes (Edinburgh University Press)
Runner up: Edith Grossman for The Messenger by Mayra Montero (Harvill)
2000
Winner: Sonia Soto for Winter in Lisbon by Antonio Muñoz Molina (Granta)
Runner up: Margaret Sayers Peden for Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (Flamingo)
1999
Winner: Don Share for I Have Lots of Heart by Miguel Hernández (Bloodaxe)
1997
Winner: Peter Bush for The Marx Family Saga by Juan Goytisolo (Faber)
2023
Karina Lickorish Quinn
It was a challenge choosing the frontrunners from this diverse, impressive list. There was such variety among which to choose, from quirky surrealist stories to bend the mind to tales of heart-wrenching tragedy to innovative works that challenged and exploded conventions of genre and form. So much talent was on show in these submissions! Judging this year’s prize asked me to carefully interrogate what I believe is meant by ‘translation’ and what the role of the translator is. Translated literature is so important because it not only finds ways to shift utterances from one language to another but because it carries from one culture to another stories, histories, perspectives and calls to action. I am grateful to all the authors, translators and publishers represented in this year’s entries for their contributions to that important work.
Richard Gwyn
The list as a whole offered a dizzying range of voices and predicaments and insights into the lives of characters – real and invented – from some very different worlds: the shortlisted works reflect that diversity of vision and demonstrate the inventiveness of the translators in responding to the challenges posed in some brilliant original works.