An invite to the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Award Ceremony took me to London last week, specifically to RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) on Great Portland Place.
where I met bloggers David from Follow the Thread and Stu from Winston’s Dad as well as blogger-turned-vlogger William from Just William’s Luck. I availed myself of the refreshments …. of course I did – the event was sponsored by Taitinger ….
A couple of glasses later and it was time for Boyd Tonkin to deliver his speech.
Salient points:
1) Translated fiction does have a wide-spread audience (Top 3 UK fiction bestsellers w/c 22/05/2014 were all translations)
2) A special mention to the Shadow IFFP panel (that made Stu and David smile)
3) Another special mention for The Mussel Feast. (A bitter sweet moment – oooooh, it hasn’t won but there’s never been a special mention before – hooray! And I must say the Peirene Nymph behaved with absolute grace on the night. One day, Peirene, one day.)
4) The winner is The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim, translated by Jonathan Wright.
The audience applauded heartily though I confess to mixed feelings. I am delighted for Comma Press, the author, the translator and the short story. (That’s the second short story collection to take a major prize this year; the Folio Prize went to George Saunders’ collection Tenth of December.) But it’s not a winner, I’m likely to read. It doesn’t appeal. (Cf Shadow IFFP review from Dolce Bellezza)
Still enough of my grumblings – there was champagne to imbibe and German author Birgit Vanderbeke and her translator, Jamie Bulloch to chat to. I also met translators Frank Wynne and Shaun Whiteside. And, of course, the nymph Peirene. (The rumour mill has it that she had a sore head the morning after … I confess, I made sure her glass was kept topped up …. What else can you do? 1 glass to commiserate, 1 glass to celebrate, and repeat ….)
Lizzy's Literary Life (Volume One) 
Hi Lizzy, such a shame we didn’t get an opportunity to meet in the afternoon. Another time, hopefully!
It was lovely to meet you david and Will for me that is one best things about going to iffp chance to meet fellow bloggers ,so pleased our shadow jury got a mention I feel this year we had made a real impact with reviews and also keeping mentions of the prize out there .Although Iraqi Christ wasn’t my favourite read in end a great choice first Arabic winner and also short stories so two birds with one stone so to speak ,all the best stu
So happy (and jealous! In a good way!) that you could go to the event and meet up with Stu and David. I’m sad about the winner, but I agree that small presses deserve attention. And, of course, I applaud the work of the translator even if I don’t like the collection of stories in The Iraqi Christ.mthanks for the mention in your post.
Great to see you, Lizzy – a wonderful night to celebrate translated fiction!