Found in Translation, established in 2007, is an annual prize given by the Polish Book Institute in Krakow, the Polish Cultural Institute in London, the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and W.A.B. Publishers in Warsaw for the best translation of a book-length work of Polish literature into English. This year's winner is Joanna Trzeciak for her extensive survey of Tadeusz Rozewicz's poetic oeuvre, Sobbing Superpower (W.W. Norton, 2011).
Trzeciak's stripped-down translation (as her foreword explains) tries to convey both Rozewicz's plain speech and his frequently intricate allusion to writers and works from Polish, German, Russian, and English, among them Franz Kafka and Ezra Pound. - Publishers Weekly
Widely held to be the most influential Polish poet of a generation that includes two Nobel prize winners, Rozewicz (b. 1921) offers perhaps the clearest answer to Theodor Adorno's famous dictum about the impossibility of poetry after Auschwitz through his uncanny sense of restraint, his stark diction, and sudden turns of language and logic.
The award will be presented on October 26, 2012 at The Ohio State University to mark a new initiative in Polish Studies, drawing on the resources of the Slavic, History, Music and other Departments. Joanna Trzeciak will also hold a discussion with Russell Scott Valentino (U Iowa) about her translation of Sobbing Superpower, her work on an anthology of 20th century Polish poetry, as well as the theory and practice of translating poetry. Valentino is a noted scholar of translation theory, as well as a prolific translator from Italian, Croatian and Russian.
The Found in Translation Award presentation is organized by the Polish Book Institute, W.A.B. Publishers, the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and the Polish Cultural Institute New York, in collaboration with The Ohio State University.
More on the Found In Translation Award
More on Joanna Trzeciak
More on Tadeusz Rozewicz
More on Sobbing Superpower