Boss in Translation

Did I miss the memo that said this was going to be the official Commendation Nominations Day?

First, we took in the shortlist of Hammett Prize rivals. Then came the lengthy rundown of Edgar Award contenders. Now, I see that at least a couple of crime novels are included on the longlist for the 2007 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize: Steal You Away, by Niccolò Ammaniti (translated by Jonathan Hunt; Canongate), and Havana Black, by Leonardo Padura (translated by Peter Bush; Bitter Lemon). This last prize--which celebrates both the authors and translators--was originally established in 1990 by The Independent, a British newspaper, to honor English-translated fiction.

For a full list of Foreign Fiction Prize nominees, click here. Judges are scheduled in March to release a short-list of contenders for this prize, with the winner announced at the beginning of May.

READ MORE: “Foreign Crime Fiction: The Translators Unedited,” by Bob Cornwell (Crime Time).