Independent publishers lead the way on tenth Warwick Prize for Women in Translation shortlist

The shortlist spans six languages, with the winner to be announced at a ceremony at The Shard in London on 16 November.

Six titles have been shortlisted for the 2026 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, which was established by the University of Warwick in 2017 to address the gender imbalance in translated literature.

The £1,000 prize highlights outstanding writing and aims to broaden the range of international women’s voices accessible to readers in the UK and Ireland. In its tenth year, the prize received 164 submissions from 37 languages, a record number and range for the competition.

The 2026 shortlist comprises:

• Batool Abu Akleen, 48kg, translated from Arabic by Batool Abu Akleen, with Graham Liddell, Wiam El-Tamami, Cristina Viti and Yasmin Zaher
  • Tenement Press; new, collaborative edition from Tenement & Penguin Press
• Lili Is Crying by Hélène Bessette, translated from French by Kate Briggs
  • Fitzcarraldo Editions
• Troubled Waters by Ichiyo Higuchi, translated from Japanese by Bryan Karetnyk
  • Pushkin Press
• White Moss by Anna Nerkagi, translated from Russian by Irina Sadovina
  • Pushkin Press
• Eye of the Monkey by Krisztina Tóth, translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet
  • Seven Stories Press UK
• Girl, 1983 by Linn Ullmann, translated from Norwegian by Martin Aitken
  • Hamish Hamilton (Penguin Random House)

The prize is judged this year by Arifa Akbar, Véronique Tadjo and Boyd Tonkin.

Arifa Akbar said: “I was struck by the high quality of books in this year’s submission as a whole. As a result, it was all the harder to select a shortlist from such high calibre and wide-ranging voices, cultures, styles and subject matter. I believe we have some extraordinary books here, some of which I hope will go on to become modern classics of writing in translation.I am so pleased that female writers are at the forefront of such experimentation and originality.”

Véronique Tadjo described it as “a truly beautiful shortlist, bringing together literary innovation, the power of poetry, and the vitality of literature today”. She added: “It is a privilege to be part of a jury celebrating such imaginative, moving and inspiring work.”

Boyd Tonkin commented that: “Our shortlist, which takes readers from Russia’s far north and a dystopian Hungary to 19th-century Japan and war-ravaged Gaza, is richly varied in genre, in style, in setting. It encompasses fiction, long and short, and poetry; rediscovered classics, and ultra-contemporary voices. But these remarkable books often depict characters (women, and some men) who must fight to endure and to flourish in the face of deadly threats - from devastating conflict, abusive authority, stifling social convention, or simply the harshness of nature. Out of such struggles these authors have created works of immense power and beauty - remade for us in English by some hugely gifted translators.”

Independent Publishers

The shortlist for 2026 is dominated by independent publishers, echoing a trend highlighted by the list of submissions to the prize over the last 10 years. The prize is free to enter, with no upper limit on the number of entries per publisher.

Boyd Tonkin said: “This year’s shortlist affirms that this has always been an especially open award: open to work from all countries, territories and languages; open to all translators, whoever and wherever they may be; open to all kinds and genres of excellent writing, past or present.”

The winner will be announced at a ceremony at The Shard in London on Monday 16 November 2026. The £1,000 prize is divided equally between the writer and translator or translators.

The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation is supported in 2026 by the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, and the Arts and Humanities Impact Fund, at the University of Warwick, and by the British Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

In 2025, the prize was awarded to Sigrid Rausing for her translation of And the Walls Became the World All Around by Johanna Ekström and Sigrid Rausing (Granta).

The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation is running two events to celebrate the shortlist in collaboration with BookBlast. Writer, translator and translation activist Maureen Freely will be in conversation with Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin, winners of the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation with their translation of The Eighth Life: (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili.

• An in-person event hosted by Veranda Books, London on Thursday 29 October: ‘Unsilencing The Female Voice’ - registration is free but required as places are limited: https://www.ticketsource.com/veranda-books/warwick-prize-for-women-in-translation-2026-shortlist-event/2026-10-29/18:30/t-xdynpvq
• An online panel discussion hosted by BookBlast on Monday 9 November, ‘A Multitude of Voices: Translating the Female Experience’ - register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-multitude-of-voices-the-warwick-prize-2026-shortlist-tickets-2003568746054?aff=oddtdtcreator 

For more information please contact:

Ann Baylis, Media and Communications Officer

ann.baylis@warwick.ac.uk | +44 (0) 7425 722087

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