Best Translated Book Award longlists

       They've announced the Best Translated Book Award longlists -- for fiction (25 titles; I was one of the judges) and for poetry (17 titles).
       The fiction list is as follows:

• Adam Buenosayres, by Leopoldo Marechal, tr. Norman Cheadle and Sheila Ethier
  
  
• The Author and Me, by Éric Chevillard, tr. Jordan Stump
  
  
• Baboon, by Naja Marie Aidt, tr. Denise Newman
  
  
• Faces in the Crowd, by Valeria Luiselli, tr. Christina MacSweeney
  
  
• Fantomas versus the Multinational Vampires, by Julio Cortázar, tr. David Krunick
  
  
• Granma Nineteen and the Soviet's Secret, by Ondjaki, tr. Stephen Henighan
  
  
• Harlequin's Millions, by Bohumil Hrabal, tr. Stacey Knecht
  
  
• La Grande, by Juan José Saer, tr. Steve Dolph
  
  
• The Last Lover, by Can Xue, tr. Annelise Finegan Wasmoen
  
  
• Last Words from Montmartre, by Qiu Miaojin, tr. Ari Larissa Heinrich
  
  
• Letters from a Seducer, by Hilda Hilst, tr. John Keene
  
  
• Monastery, by Eduardo Halfon, tr. Lisa Dillman and Daniel Hahn
  
  
• 1914, by Jean Echenoz, tr. Linda Coverdale
  
  
• Our Lady of the Nile, by Scholastique Mukasonga, tr. Melanie Mauthner
  
  
• Paris, by Marcos Giralt Torrente, tr. Margaret Jull Costa
  
  
• Pushkin Hills, by Sergei Dovlatov, tr. Katherine Dovlatov
  
  
• Rambling On, by Bohumil Hrabal, tr. David Short
  
  
• Snow and Shadow, by Dorothy Tse, tr. Nicky Harman
  
  
• Street of Thieves, by Mathias Énard, tr. Charlotte Mandell
  
  
• Talking to Ourselves, by Andrés Neuman, tr. Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia
  
  
• Things Look Different in the Light, by Medardo Fraile, tr. Margaret Jull Costa
  
  
• Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, by Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein
  
  
• Winter Mythologies and Abbots, by Pierre Michon, tr. Ann Jefferson
  
  
• The Woman Who Borrowed Memories, by Tove Jansson, tr. Thomas Teal
  
  
• Works, by Edouard Levé, tr. Jan Steyn

       Geographically and linguistically it's a pretty decent spread -- though Spanish is definitely the language-of-the-year (eight titles); Chinese also had a good showing (three titles). Among the surprises: nothing in Arabic, Japanese, or Korean -- and perhaps the biggest surprise of all: no German titles -- despite making up a full third (5 of 15) of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist this year, leading Boyd Tonkin to suggest a possible change in the literary balance of power (well, that definitely didn't register on the other side of the Atlantic). Not all the same titles were BTBA-eligible, but Jenny Erpenbeck's The End of Days is certainly among the high-profile BTBA omissions, as is Daniel Kehlmann's F (and Judith Schalansky's IFFP-longlisted The Giraffe's Neck was also BTBA-eligible).

       A good variety of publishers are represented -- but translation powerhouse (and two-time defending BTBA winner) New Directions was shut out -- despite contenders including the Erpenbeck and Roberto Bolaño's A Little Lumpen Novelita.

       An interesting variety of fiction here, too: a lot of short-story (more or less) collections -- a lot ! -- as well as more unusual fictions such as Works and Fantomas versus the Multinational Vampires.

       The only title to make both the BTBA longlist and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist was The Last Lover, by Can Xue
       The only two titles to make the BTBA longlist and the PEN Translation Prize longlist were Baboon, by Naja Marie Aidt, and The Woman Who Borrowed Memories, by Tove Jansson.

       Despite such a large longlist, some notable and excellent books failed to make the cut. Chad mentioned some already; from Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano's Suspended Sentences to two by Murakami Haruki (the IFFP-longlisted Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and The Strange Library) to Man Booker International Prize-winner Ismail Kadare's Twilight of the Eastern Gods other prominent names also fell by the wayside.
       Still, overall this feels like a very strong longlist -- a bit more story-collection- and Spanish-tilted than I would have anticipated (liked ?), but thoroughly defensible. Unlike in some previous years, it feels more even too -- with very few exceptions, it's hard to guess which titles will make the next cut, to the ten-title the shortlist.

       Meanwhile, note that the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist will be announced on Thursday. (For some reason they've already told me what's on it, but I'll refrain from commenting for now.)