Forrest Gander has been shortlisted for the Premio Valle Inclán for his translation of It Must Be a Misunderstanding by Coral Bracho!

The Premio Valle Inclán is a prize for translation into English of full-length Spanish language works of literary merit and general interest. The winner of the prize will receive £3,000, and a runner-up will receive £1,000. The award is part of the Society of Authors annual Translation Prizes, comprising eight overall prizes. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the British Library on Wednesday 7th February 2024.

Congratulations Forrest!

Mexican poet, teacher and translator Coral Bracho was born in Mexico City in 1951. She has published several books, two in English thanks to the brilliant poet-translator Forrest Gander, who has put this composite volume together, the first time Bracho has been extensively published in the UK.

An extensive selection from Bracho's earlier work, which 'altered the landscape of Mexican poetry' (World Literature Today), is accompanied by the entirety of her new book, of which Gander writes: 'Although composed of individual poems, It Must Be a Misunderstanding is really a deeply affecting book-length work whose force builds as the poems cycle through their sequences. The “plot” follows a general trajectory—from early to late Alzheimer's—with non-judgmental affection and compassionate watchfulness. We come to know an opinionated, demonstrative elderly woman whose resilience, in the face of her dehiscent memory, becomes most clear in her adaptive strategies. The poems involve us in the mind's bafflement and wonder, in its creative quick-change adjustments, and in the emotional drama that draws us across the widening linguistic gaps that reroute communication.