Aurora Borealis non Fiction

The International Federation of Translators has an international translation prize designed to promote the translation of non-fiction literature, improve the quality thereof and draw attention to the role of translators in bringing the peoples of the world closer together in terms of culture. The prize is sponsored by a generous donation from the Norwegian Association of Non-fiction Writers and Translators (NFF), and is financed by copyright revenues.

Aurora Borealis Prize 2011 for Outstanding Translation of Non-fiction Literature is awardet to M.

Rodolfo Alpízar Castillo

Address of Werner Richter, jury chair

My fellow jurors and me had to pick a winner from among six most promising candidates who all had a record of great non-fiction translations. So it took us an interesting and healthy debate … and quite a while … to agree upon a name - and the winner is:

… our Cuban colleague Rodolfo Alpízar Castillo, who is not only a translator but also one of the most prominent linguists and terminologists in Cuba. He has been teaching translation and specialised writing in a dozen different Latin American countries, so some people here might know him very well. Apart from belonging to the Writers and Literature Translators Section of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union and numerous other functions, Rodolfo is a founding member of the Asociación Cubana de Traductores e Interpretes, whose president and vice-president he used to be, and currently he is president of their Ethics Commission. Apart from writing short stories and novels which have been published in Cuba, Spain and Portugal…

But it is for his non-fiction translations that we awarded him the Aurora Borealis Prize, and he certainly has a nice list to show here. Rodolfo Alpízar Castillo, who usually translates from Portuguese to Spanish, has done books about, among other subjects:

• Globalisation
• Modern slavery, i.e. the debt-based hardships of Brazilian peasants
• The development of Brazilian citizenship
• The relationship between the US and Latin America
• Che Guevara's role in modern Cuba

On the whole and comparing his work to the equally awardable translations of the runners-up, the jury felt that Rodolfo's translation record was most worthy of the Aurora Borealis Prize, so we hope those Northern Lights will shine down on him wherever he is - probably a lot further south to see them - because he cannot accept the award in person.

Jury: Bente Christensen (Norway), Markku Päkkilä (Finland), Denis Louis Bousquet (Canada), Henry Liu (New Zealand), Werner Richter (Austria), chair

Photo : Werner Richter, Silvana Marchetti, Marion Boers

© Photos courtesy of Jørgen Christian Wind Nielsen, Wind Kommunikation, Denmark

The Aurora Borealis Prize for non fiction books was attributed to:

RULES

(Approved by the FIT Council at it's meeting in Geneva in April 1998)

Article 1

The Fédération internationale des traducteurs has an international translation prize designed to promote the translation of non-fiction literature, improve the quality thereof and draw attention to the role of translators in bringing the peoples of the world closer together in terms of culture. The prize is sponsored by a generous donation from the Norwegian Association of Non-fiction Writers and Translators (NFF), and is financed by copyright revenues.

Article 2

This international translation prize, named the FIT “AURORA BOREALIS” PRIZE FOR OUTSTANDING TRANSLATION OF NON-FICTION LITERATURE, may be awarded either for a single translation of outstanding quality or for the entire body of a translator's non-fiction work.

Article 3

This international translation prize shall be awarded at FIT World Congresses, pursuant to the decision of an international jury as provided in Article 5.

Article 4

Candidates must be nominated by a FIT member and must be members in good standing of such an organization. No FIT member may nominate more than one candidate for this prize each time it is announced.

Article 5

The prize shall be awarded after deliberation of an international jury consisting of five members appointed by the FIT Executive Committee. Jury members may be re-appointed. The jury shall meet not less than three months prior to the opening of the Congress during which the prize is to be awarded. The jury shall elect a chairperson and a rapporteur from among its members.

Article 6

The Prize shall consist of a Certificate of Merit and a sum of money.

Article 7

Nominations shall be accompanied by the following information:

1. A general report on the nominee's merits and/or work, including in particular his or her titles, any awards which he or she may have received and the articles written about his or her work.
2. A detailed analysis of the merits of the translation under consideration or of the quality of all the works of the candidate.

Nominations shall be submitted in French or English. The file shall not exceed 10 pages.

Article 8

Nominations shall be submitted in six copies, and be in the hands of FIT'S Secretary General no later than six months prior to the Congress at which the prize will be awarded.

Article 9

Anything not provided for in theses rules may be decided by the FIT Committee on Translation Prizes.

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