The winners of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2022 were announced at a ceremony held at The Shard in London on Thursday 24 November. For the first time in the six-year history of the prize, the judges selected joint winners:

Osebol by Marit Kapla, translated from Swedish by Peter Graves, published by Allen Lane/Penguin Random House

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, published by Tilted Axis Press

Judges Amanda Hopkinson, Boyd Tonkin and Susan Bassnett commented:

"The judges agreed without dissent that these two extraordinary books from opposite ends of the literary spectrum both deserved to take the prize. Our choice of joint winners comes not out of conflict or compromise but a shared and equal wonder at the skill and vision of both pairs of authors and translators in such wholly different genres.

“In the novel Tomb of Sand (translated from Hindi), Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell lead their readers on an uproarious, polyphonic journey through Indian domestic life and social history. The widowed, octogenarian Ma irrepressibly defies age, family and convention to take a trip crashing through every barrier that seeks to fix her role and cramp her style, as a playfully high-spirited satire embraces the darker legacies of division, prejudice and Partition.

“In the oral history Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village (translated from Swedish), Marit Kapla and translator Peter Graves assemble a haunting collage of testimonies from the inhabitants of a small rural community in remote woodlands. Selected, edited and laid out with truly poetic grace and flair, these intimate stories of time and place, change and loss, accumulate into an unforgettable fresco of human experience and memory in an era of transition and upheaval.

“Each of these books is, in its distinctive way, a uniquely powerful achievement; we salute the artistry of their authors and translators, and warmly recommend them both."

The winner and the runner-up were chosen from a diverse shortlist of seven titles that included translations from Catalan, French, German, Greek, and Spanish.

The 2022 competition received 138 eligible entries from 33 languages. The prize was generously supported in 2022 by the University of Warwick’s School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, by the British Centre for Literary Translation and by the Warwick Institute of Engagement.

For more details about the prize, the 2022 shortlist and longlist, and previous winners, see our webpage. We also post regular updates on Twitter and Facebook. Please get in touch if you have a Women in Translation event or news item you would like us to publicise: womenintranslation@warwick.ac.uk