Tanzanian writer Euphrase Kezilahabi is one of the few writes that received a translation grant from PEN America. Kezilahabi’s novel, Rosa Mistika, was translated from Swahili to English by the American academic and translator, Jay Rubin.
The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants, which comes with a cash prize of $3,700 was initiated in order to “promote the publication and reception of translated world literature into English.” Now in its 19th year, the prize was established by “Priscilla and Michael Henry Heim in response to the dismayingly low number of literary translations appearing in English.” The fund has supported more than 200 projects.”
According to the press statement on the website “for the 2022 cycle, the judges reviewed applications from a wide array of languages of origin, genres, and time periods. Selected from this vast field of applicants are 10 projects, including Thai, Arabic, Chinese, Romanian, Kazakh, Swahili, and more, and each translator will receive a grant of $3,700 to support the translation’s completion.” The translation grant prize was judged by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Nicholas Glastonbury, Thomas Kitson, Tess Lewis, Aditi Machado, Minna Zallman Proctor, Kaitlin Rees, Jordan A. Yamaji Smith
Here is the judges’ citation:
“Jay Rubin’s supple translation of this foundational work of literature in Swahili by the Tanzanian writer Euphrase Kezilahabi brings to vivid life the inhabitants of the village of Namagondo. Traces of its recent colonial past are many in this island village in Lake Victoria, yet the local culture and its customs are rife with exploitation and misogyny. Kezilahabi’s portrayal of the weak and defenseless is unflinching, yet he unfailingly accords them dignity, agency, even humor. Published in 1971 and temporarily banned for its direct depictions of the abuse of schoolgirls by their teachers and women by their fathers, husbands, and brothers, Rosa Mistika is now standard reading in schools across Tanzania and Kenya.”
This is the second time Kezilahabi is receiving a translation grant. The first grant was for his collection of poems, Stray Truths: Selected Poems of Euphrase Kezilahabi which was translated into English by Annmarie S. Drury in 2011. Euphrase Kezilahabiwas a Tanzanian novelist, poet, and scholar. He passed away in January 2020.
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