Премия IMPAC за перевод

ROSEMARY SORENSEN From: The Australian June 18, 2010 12:00AM

A SERIES of fortunate events has led an Australian translator to a share in one of the world’s richest literary prizes, more by accident than design.

Adelaide-born David Colmer, who now lives in Amsterdam, was this morning (Australian time) named as co-winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his translation of Gerbrand Bakker’s first novel, The Twin, from Dutch into English.

Colmer receives a quarter of the E100,000 ($142,500) prize, which is administered by the Dublin City Public Libraries for Dublin City Council.

Colmer, who won the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize last year for a body of work including The Twin, says he only began to learn Dutch when he settled in Amsterdam in the 1990s, having met and married a Dutch woman on his travels in Europe.

«Dutch can sound like someone clearing their throat, but every language has its problems until you are immersed in it,» Colmer says.

«Translation is like rewriting, and you have to go straight into finding the right style.»

The Twin is about a man whose twin brother has died, and who must return to the family farm to look after his ailing father. It was published in Australia by Melbourne-based Scribe, which Colmer praises for its daring in taking on a novel in translation.

«Australian publishers are starting to pick up foreign books and even translate them first in Australia, selling the rights into other English-language areas,» Colmer says.

He also praises the IMPAC prize, the only significant literary award for which translations «compete on an equal basis with books originally written in English». «That’s every translator’s goal, really: for the book to come to life in the new language and for no qualifications to be necessary,» Colmer says.

He has also written a novel, but says it has so far been published only in Dutch translation. «As a writer, I’m totally obscure,» Colmer says. «Translators are usually obscure by nature, but this prize will certainly help my reputation.

«The biggest problem I have with translation is not finding good projects, but having the strength to turn something down.»

Bakker has published a second novel and a third is about to appear in Dutch. Colmer says no English-language publisher has yet bought the rights to those, but that is «very likely to happen now».

Источник:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au.

Справочно:

IMPAC

Самая большая в мире премиальная сумма за отдельное литературное произведение — 100 тысяч евро. Ее получают лауреаты международной премии IMPAC, учрежденной в 1996 году Городским советом Дублина.

В этом городе, воспетом Джойсом, и происходит награждение. Хотя штаб-квартира международной компании IMPAC (Improved Management Productivity and Control), чье имя носит награда, расположена во Флориде и прямого отношения к литературе не имеет. IMPAC — мировой лидер в области повышения производительности труда — работает над проектами для крупнейших корпораций и организаций в 65 странах мира.

Правда, высокая производительность писательского труда (в сочетании с качеством) тоже может принести премиальные плоды. Чтобы участвовать в конкурсе, произведение должно быть написано или переведено на английский язык и выдержать жесткую международную конкуренцию: правом выдвижения соискателей пользуются 185 библиотечных систем в 51 стране.