Best Literary Translations (BLT) is "the first U.S. anthology devoted to celebrating the breadth of literary translators’ work". It is a "new annual featuring the year’s best poetry, short fiction, and essay, drawn from U.S.-affiliated literary journals and magazines"[1] and curated by four series co-editors and one guest editor. The anthology series aims to celebrate world literature, and honor the brilliant work of translators and the literary journals that publish this work.[2]

The inaugural edition in 2024 was guest-edited by Jane Hirshfield.

History

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Best Literary Translations is published by Deep Vellum in Texas. The inaugural edition of Best Literary Translations anthology was published in 2024 with four co-editors Noh Anothai, Wendy Call, Oyku Tekten and Kola Tubosun. It was guest-edited by Jane Hirshfield, with a dedication to Edith Grossman. Of the first edition, World Literature Today writes "in a world in which nationalism increasingly carves moats between literatures, may the 2025 edition continue building a world literature portrait for the ages."[3]

Jack Rockwell of the North American Review writes of the anthology: "BLT 2024 at once advocates to a wider audience for the importance of publishing and reading literary translations, and makes important claims within the translation community about the practice’s possibilities, argued forcefully on political and aesthetic grounds."[4]

The 2025 guest-editor has been announced as Pulitzer prizewinning writer Cristina Rivera Garza.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "First-Ever U.S. Anthology Celebrates Literary Translators' Work from 19 Languages". Deep Vellum. 2024-04-08. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  2. ^ "Best Literary Translations 2024". Poets & Writers. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  3. ^ Carls, Alice-Catherine (2024-06-27). "Best Literary Translations 2024: Expanding the Multilingual Catalog of World Literature, by Alice-Catherine Carls". World Literature Today. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  4. ^ "A Review of Best Literary Translations 2024". North American Review. 2024-04-09. Retrieved 2024-07-26.