The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize
For the third year in a row, we’re celebrating exceptional translations into English from Japanese in partnership with the Society of Authors!
The four works shortlisted for the 2025 Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize are:
Polly Barton for a translation of Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa (Viking, Penguin Random House)
Ginny Tapley Takemori for a translation of Mornings With My Cat Mii by Mayumi Inaba (Harvill Secker, Vintage, Penguin Random House)
Stephen Snyder for a translation of Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa (Harvill Secker, Vintage, Penguin Random House)
Bryan Karetnyk for a translation of The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo (Pushkin Press)
This year’s judges are Lila Matsumoto, Asa Yoneda and Dr Victoria Young.
Dr Victoria Young said:
“Reading the nominations side by side reaffirmed the multiplicity of voices to be found in Japanese literature, and the promise that translation carries to allow those voices to travel. Each work evidently carried different challenges for the translator, whether in terms of the use of regional vernaculars and more experimental prose in the original, or the complexity of the narrative being told.”
Now the nominations are out we are waiting with anticipation the final judgement of the panel, which is due at the 2025 Translation Prizes ceremony in February. The winner will be awarded £3,000, with a £1,000 prize for one runner-up.
Read more on the Society of Authors website: Announcing the Translation Prizes 2025 shortlists – The Society of Authors
About the prize
Japanese prose is flourishing in Britain, and by supporting this prize we aim to shine a light on the essential (and fascinating) work of translators, and support them in bringing a new, English-speaking audience to writers working in Japanese.
The prize is awarded to a translation into English of a full-length Japanese-language work of literary merit and general interest. The winning translation will make for faultless reading or reading where there is no indication that the original language was not English.