THE POLKA: What’s Riveting in Polish Literature by Anna Blasiak. Found in Translation Award
This month, once again, The Polka veers away from its usual focus on introducing you to Polish books and writers deserving of your attention. Last time The Polka highlighted the most recent books translated into English, this time my focus is on the Found in Translation Award (FiT), an important award which brings the translators of Polish themselves into the spotlight. As a Polish translator myself, and as the Head of Literature at the Polish Cultural Institute in London, I’m especially pleased to be promoting this wonderful award.
This annual FiT award was established in 2008 and is awarded jointly by the Book Institute in Poland and the Polish Cultural Institutes in London and New York. It works like this: the winners of the two previous editions of the prize are among the judges deciding who to select and recognise in the current year. FiT awards the best book translated from Polish and published in English in the preceding year, in other words in 2026 it honours books from 2025 The idea is to celebrate those translators whose work brings the best of Polish literature (prose, poetry, non-fiction) in the hands of the English-language readers and beyond, as English is often treated as a ‘bridge language’ enabling translations into other, smaller languages.
The list of previous winners is a showcase of some of the best translators from Polish, including Antonia Lloyd-Jones (for Paweł Huelle’s The Last Supper in 2009 and in 2013 for her entire body of translation work), Jennifer Croft (for Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights in 2018 and The Books of Jacob in 2022), Bill Johnston (for Tadeusz Różewicz’s poems in 2008 and in 2016 for Tomasz Różycki’s Twelve Stations), Ursula Phillips (for Choucas by Zofia Nałkowska in 2015), Anna Zaranko (for Kornel Filipowicz’s The Memoir of an Anti-hero in 2020 and in 2023 for Władysław Reymont’s The Peasants), and many others. Last year, in 2025, the FiT award went to Mira Rosenthal for her translation of To the Letter, a volume of poems by Tomasz Różycki.
This year’s distinguished winner will be announced in the spring during an award ceremony in the winner’s country of origin. There is still time for you to nominate and submit entries. Submissions are accepted from publishers, organisations and individuals. So if you have a favourite book translated from Polish and published in English in 2025, don’t sit on it! The nominations are being accepted up to 31 January 2026. Here are the details.
May the best book (and translator!) win!
by Anna Blasiak
Read previous posts in The Polka series:
THE POLKA: What’s Riveting in Polish LIterature by Anna Blasiak. The Chameleon that is DANIEL ODIJA
THE POLKA: What’s Riveting in Polish LIterature by Anna Blasiak. MAŁGORZATA LEBDA has it all
THE POLKA: What’s Riveting in Polish LIterature by Anna Blasiak. JOANNA BATOR and her bears
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