Finalists have been selected for the $1,000 Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation, co-founded in 2023 by Justin Walls and Spencer Ruchti and "the only U.S. prize recognizing translated works as chosen by independent booksellers." The prize's five committee members for 2026 are chair Pierce Alquist, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass., Sophie Chen, Belmont Books, Belmont, Mass., Mikayla Bryant, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, N.Y., Lou Barcott, Myopic Books, Chicago, Ill., and James Webster, Recluse Books, Fort Worth, Tex. The winner will be announced November 16.
The finalists:
The Monroe Girls by Antoine Volodine, translated from the French by Alyson Waters (Archipelago)
Repetition by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (Verso Fiction)
The Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from the Bulgarian by Izidora Angel (Sandorf Passage)
Eden at Dawn by Karim Kattan, translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Restless Books)
Pure Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Other Press)
My Dreadful Body by Egana Djabbarova, translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden (New Vessel Press)
Dams by Irene Solà, translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem (Graywolf Press)
City Like Water by Dorothy Tse, translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce (Graywolf Press)
Event Horizon by Balsam Karam, translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel (Feminist Press)