Jamie Lauer and Russell Karrick recently were named as the recipients of the third annual translation prize for students sponsored by World Literature Today at the University of Oklahoma. Consistent with World Literature Today’s commitment to publishing literature in translation, the World Literature Today Translation Prize recognizes the talent and promise of translation students worldwide.
The editors of WLT judged the competition: Daniel Simon, assistant director and editor-in-chief; Michelle Johnson, managing and culture editor; and Rob Vollmar, book review and online editor. They selected a winner in each of two categories, prose and poetry. Each prizewinner will receive a cash award, and their winning translations will be published on the WLT website in July.
Robert Con Davis-Undiano, World Literature Today’s executive director, noted that this prize is “now attracting some of the most talented young translators anywhere.” He added that “World Literature Today will continue to take the lead to highlight the work of young people in the field who need a boost to reach the top in the publishing world.”
Recipients of the 2020 World Literature Today Translation Prize
Jamie Lauer won the prose category for her translation from the Spanish of Chilean author Pía Barros’s short story “Prohibitions.” Lauer is completing a Certificate in Literary Translation at Indiana University Bloomington, along with a master’s degree in comparative literature. Professor Bill Johnston served as her sponsoring faculty member. Though she has translated different authors from across Latin America, Chilean literature and Chilean Spanish hold a special place in her heart because of the four months she lived in Chile.
Translating Colombian poet Lucía Estrada from the Spanish, Russell Karrick won the poetry category for his translation of the poem “[A flock of cranes].” Karrick is a translation student in the Creative Writing MFA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he was sponsored by Professor H. L. Hix. Karrick’s poetry has appeared in the Westchester Review and is forthcoming in Magma Poetry.
Poetry Winner
Lucía Estrada is a Colombian poet and the author of seven collections of poetry. She has won numerous local and national awards, including the National Poetry Prize for her most recent collection, Katábasis. Her work has appeared in a variety of national and international publications and has been translated into English, French, Japanese, Greek, Swedish, Portuguese, Italian and German. Eulalia Books (United States) will be publishing a bilingual edition of Katábasis later this year.
Russell Karrick grew up in Newburgh, New York. He is currently completing his master of fine arts degree in creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he is a dual-genre student and studies translation. His poetry has appeared in the Westchester Review and is forthcoming in Magma Poetry.
Prose Winner
Pía Barros currently lives and works as a publisher and prolific prose writer in Chile. Her work is among the most celebrated in the country’s contemporary literary scene. She belongs to a generation of writers who established their careers during the latter part of the violent Pinochet dictatorship, and like many of those writers, her fiction reflects concern for the social injustices of that time period and the struggles of the country to move past them.
Jamie Lauer is completing a Certificate in Literary Translation at Indiana University Bloomington, along with a master’s degree in comparative literature. Under the guidance of Bill Johnston, she has translated different authors from across Latin America, but Chilean literature and Chilean Spanish hold a special place in her heart because of the four months she lived in Chile.