John Dryden Translation Competition

John Dryden

Introduction​

The John Dryden Translation Competition, in memory of the first British poet laureate John Dryden (1631–1700) – a literary critic, translator, and playwright as well as a poet, is sponsored by the British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation. Prizes are awarded for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English, subject to finding a reader (entrance fee will be refunded if no reader is available). Literary translation includes poetry, prose, or drama from any period. The competition is currently hosted by the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds.

The judges’ panel is chaired by Jacob Blakesley, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, and Caroline Summers, University of Warwick. Past judges have included: Susan Bassnett, Universities of Glasgow and Warwick; James Garza (International Christian University); Duncan Large (University of East Anglia/ BCLT); Benedict Schofield (University of Bristol); Paul Starkey (University of Durham).
 

First prize: £400; second prize: £250; third prize: £150; other entries may receive commendations.
All three prizes also include one year’s BCLA membership.

Listen to conversations with previous winners of the competition as part of a new series of Settee Seminars podcasts entitled ‘Translators on Translation’, hosted by Ilkley Literature Festival / Word Up North. The first episode is available here.

The John Dryden Translation Competition 2024-2025 is now open. The competition deadline is 3 February 2025.

John Dryden Competition Panel

The Judges

Judges will be selected from the following, and will be assisted by expert bilingual readers specialising in the literatures for which entries are received.

Dr Jacob Blakesley

Associate professor in comparative literature and literary translation

Prof. Susan Bassnett

Professor of
Comparative Literature

Emily Finer

Senior Lecturer in Russian and Comparative Literature

Prof. Maike Oergel

Professor of German and Comparative Cultural Studies

Prof. Wen-chin Ouyang

Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature

Robert Chandler

Translator



Dr Caroline Summers

Lecturer in German/Comparative Translation Studies

JOHN DRYDEN

Competition Details

Subject to copyright, winning entries will be published in full in Comparative Critical Studies and on the Edinburgh University Press website

If you join the BCLA between 1 July 2022 and 31 January 2023, you may submit one entry free of charge. Please note this on your  John Dryden Competition Entry form.

The entry fee is £10 sterling for one, £15 for two, or £20 for three entries. Payment can be made via the University of Leeds secure online store.

Electronic entries (source text, translation, entry form) should be emailed to: R.Hibbitt@leeds.ac.uk

If you need to send hard copies, please send them to the following address:
Dr Richard Hibbitt, John Dryden Translation Competition
School of Languages, Cultures & Societies
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
United Kingdom

Entries will be received from November 2022
Failure to comply with the competition rules will render entries ineligible.

The deadline for this year’s competition is Monday 6 February 2023.

 

Previous winners

Winners of the 2022-23 John Dryden Translation Competition

The British Comparative Literature Association would like to announce the winners of the 2022-2023 BCLA/BCLT John Dryden Translation Competition, chosen from over 100 entries and 29 different languages.

Many thanks to everyone who entered the competition. 

First Place

Antonella Lettieri

for The War of the Murazzi translated from Enrico Remmert’s Italian text La guerra dei Murazzi.

Second Place

Naomi Mottram

for her translation from Sofia Sinitskaia’s Russian text Mitrofanushka Durasov. 

Third Place

David McCallam

for “No Words but Word-Dough” and “The Feeling” translated from Christophe Tarkos’s French text ‘Il y a pâte-mot’ and ‘Le sentiment’. 

View Previous Years Winners:
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