The Siege, a capital literary work in the opus of the renowned Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, is on the short list of six foreign books running for The Independent’s Foreign Fiction Prize 2009, announced the British media Wednesday. With a total award of 10000 àdivided between the writer and the translator, The Independent’s Foreign Fiction Prize claims to be one of United Kingdom’s outstanding literary prizes in foreign contemporary literature in translation. It was recreated in 2001 in partnership with the Arts Council England. Open to all living authors and to any translated work of fiction first published in the UK during 2008, this year’s competition attracted a record 126 submissions. The Siege was translated in English by David Bellos, an experimented translator and biographer. This translation was based on a former French translation of Kadare by Jusuf Vrioni. The book was published in England in 2008. Bellos who has also taught Frenchand comparative literature at the Princeton University in the USA, is a translator of other works by Ismail Kadare, as well as renowned French writers like Georges Perec, Romain Gary. He has also translated works from Fred Vargas, Georges Ifrah and Helene Berr. He started translating Ismail Kadare in 1995 (The Pyramid) and continued with works like The File on H (1996), Spring Flowers, Spring Frost (2001), The Successor (2005) and Agamemnon’s Daughter (2006). The British media point that The Siege is the 19th novel translated in English from the renowned Albanian author. The Siege (in Albanian K촨tjella) was published for the first time in Albania in 1970. It was formerly translated into English, reportedly by Pavli Qesku, and published in Albania in 1974 under the title The Castle.
The other books in the short list for The Independent’s Foreign Fiction Prize are: Voiceover by Cꭩne Curiol, Beijing Coma by Ma Jian, The Armies by Evelio Rosero, The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, and Friendly Fire by A B Yehoshua. The winner will be selected in mid-May.
In the English-speaking world, Ismail Kadare is largely known as the winner of the inaugural Man Booker International prize in 2005. Ismail Kadare has constantly been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. David Bellos also won the Translator’s Prize of the Man Booker International Prize for his translations of the works of Kadare.
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The reconstruction of the familiar house of Ismail Kadare in Gjirokast철is expected to begin shortly, as an international tender on the restoration and preservation of the House of Ismail Kadare located within the historic zone of Gjirokast철was closed on the 23rd of March. The birth city of Ismail Kadare, Gjirokast철is an UNESCO World Heritage site and the historical centre of Gjirokast철in Albania (6 selected monuments) will be restored.
