[MGSA-L] 2019 Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize Announcement

Nikolaos Panou nikolaos.panou at stonybrook.edu
Fri Sep 6 19:08:04 PDT 2019


On behalf of the MGSA Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize Committee,
I am happy to announce the results of this year’s competition. A number of
translations were submitted whose source texts represent a wide range of
genres (from short stories and novels to poetry and theater) and span a
period from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The evaluating
committee, consisting of Elsa Amanatidou, Natalie Bakopoulos, Joanna
Eleftheriou, Eleni Sikelianos, and myself as Chair, has read the
submissions and arrived at its decisions after careful consideration.



The 2019 Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize is awarded to Brian
Sneeden for his translation of Phoebe Giannisi’s 2016 collection of poetry
*Ραψωδία *(excerpt submitted under the general title *Rhapsody*).
Brian Sneeden’s translation does justice to the original as it preserves
key aspects of the Greek text while exhibiting ample vitality and creative
vision of its own. His renditions are at the same time meticulous and
lyrical, precise and elegant, powerful and subtle. To make this feel easy
and effortless when it is clearly the result of a thoughtful and sustained
engagement with Giannisi’s poetry is a prizeworthy achievement indeed.



Honorable Mention is given to Johanna Hanink for her translation of
Konstantinos Poulis’ 2014 collection of short stories *Ο θερμοστάτης *(excerpt
submitted under the general title *The Thermostat*). This is a translation
of exceptional quality that stood out from the rest and elicited high
praise and admiration from all five members of the committee.

The winners will be formally announced and congratulated at the Award
Ceremony of the 26th MGSA Symposium, November 7-10, 2019, in Sacramento,
CA: https://mgsasymposium.org/sch.html. The committee takes this
opportunity to congratulate them here as well. It would also like to thank
all those who submitted their excellent work.

The MGSA Constantinides Memorial Translation Competition is intended to
raise the profile of contemporary Greek literature in English and to award
translation as a creative, intellectually meaningful exercise. Established
in 1995 and administered by the MGSA, the Prize honors the memory
of Elizabeth Constantinides (1932-1992, Ph.D. in Greek and Latin from
Columbia University), who taught Modern Greek language and literature at
Queens College of CUNY from 1978 to 1992, wrote on Alexandros
Papadiamantis, and translated twelve short stories by Papadiamantis,
published as *Tales from a Greek Island* (Johns Hopkins University Press,
1987). Constantinides served on the Executive Committee of the MGSA and was
awarded the 1987 prize of the Society of Literary Translators in Athens,
Greece.


Sincerely,



Nikos Panou


___________________

Nikolaos Panou

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature

Peter V. Tsantes Endowed Professor in Hellenic Studies

Department of English

Stony Brook University

Stony Brook, NY 11794-5355
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