Judging
Committee
English
- Stephen Snyder
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(Translator of Japanese Literature, Dean of Language Schools and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Professor of Japanese Studies, Middlebury College)
Born in 1957. Earned Ph.D. from Yale University. He is the author of Fictions of Desire: Narrative Form in the Novels of Nagai Kafu and co-editor of Oe and Beyond: Fiction in Contemporary Japan. He has translated contemporary Japanese novels by Yoko Ogawa, Kenzaburo Oe, Ryu Murakami, Yu Miri, Kotaro Isaka, to name a few. He also published his translation of Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale by Nagai Kafu and Ashura Girl by Otaro Maijo under JLPP. His translation of Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa was shortlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2020 International Booker Prize.
- Allison Markin Powell
(Translator of Japanese Literature) - Allison Markin Powell is a literary translator, editor, and publishing consultant. She has received grants from English PEN and the NEA, and the 2020 PEN America Translation Prize for The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami. Her other translations include works by Osamu Dazai, Kaoru Takamura, Fuminori Nakamura, and Kanako Nishi. She was the co-organizer and co-host of the Translating the Future conference, served as co-chair of the PEN America Translation Committee and currently represents the committee on PEN’s Board of Trustees, and is a founding member of the translator collectives Cedilla & Co. and Strong Women, Soft Power. She teaches literary translation at Hunter College (CUNY).
©Georgina Piper
- Sam Bett
(Translator of Japanese Literature) - Born in 1986. Graduated from UMass-Amherst, majoring in English and Japanese Language & Literature. In 2015, Sam was awarded Grand Prize in the 2nd JLPP International Translation Competition. His translation work includes the Katanagatari series by NISIOISIN, The Flowers of Buffoonery by Osamu Dazai, and The Rope Artist by Fuminori Nakamura. His translation of Star by Yukio Mishima won the 2019-2020 Japan-US Friendship Commission Prize. He also co-translated Mieko Kawakami's works with David Boyd, including Breasts and Eggs, Heaven, and All the Lovers in the Night. Heaven was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Alongside his translation work, he is a co-host of Us&Them, a Brooklyn-based reading series showcasing the work of writers who translate.