Djiboutian novelist Abdourahman Waberi is among 18 winners of the 2021 English PEN Translates Award.

The awards, launched in 2012, aims to increase the UK’s bibliodiversity by recognizing works of literary merit published in a foreign language and translated into English.

So Mayer, one of the co-chairs of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group, commented on the list of awardees:

The panel was thrilled to see the range of submissions, and especially to see increasing numbers of independent publishers developing translation lists, enabling us to reward the literary ambition and radical interventions of writers, translators and editors who are strengthening and expanding contemporary literature.

Abdourahman Waberi was awarded for Why Do You Dance When You Walk?, translated from the French by Nicole Ball and David Ball (Cassava Republic Press). Waberi is the author of over ten books ranging from novels to poetry. He currently teaches French and Francophone Studies and Creative Writing at George Washington University.

Congratulations to Abdourahman Waberi!

See the full list of winners from around the globe here.