Found in Translation Award 2010

The Book Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute in London and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York have the pleasure to announce that the winner of the Found in Translation Award for 2009 has been named Danuta Borchardt for her translation of Witold Gombrowicz’s “Pornografia,” published by Grove Atlantic (USA). This award recognizes the exceptional quality of the translation and the great importance of the text being translated.

“Pornografia” is the third Gombrowicz novel – following “Cosmos” and “Ferdydurke” – that has appeared in Danuta Borchardt’s translation. The book reviews have been emphatic about the quality of these translations, and her rendering of “Ferdydurke” was singled out for the National Translation Award in 2001. On the translation of “Pornografia,” the reviewer from “Publishers Weekly” wrote that it "is a model of consistncy, maintaining a manic tone as it navigates between lengthy, comma-spliced sentences and sharp, declarative thrusts.”

The award of 10,000 PLN, funded by W.A.B. Publishers, will be presented on September 27th in Chicago at the University of Illinois, during the ceremonial inauguration of The Hejna Family Chair in Polish Language and Literature, to be assumed by Professor Michał Paweł Markowski.

The FOUND IN TRANSLATION AWARD is given annually to the translator(s) of the finest publication of Polish literature in English to have appeared in book form during the preceding calendar year. The winner receives the above-mentioned monetary award, a diploma, and a three-month residency in Krakow funded by the Book Institute.