Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize 2026
Awarded by the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize recognises the importance of Asian translation for international literature and promotes the translation of Asian works into English. The $10,000 prize is named for Lucien Stryk (1924-2013), an internationally acclaimed translator of Japanese and Chinese Zen poetry, renowned Zen poet, and former professor of English at Northern Illinois University.
To celebrate this year’s shortlist, we’re revisiting our reviews of the three shortlisted books we’ve covered. Read the full posts below.
“The Ruins” by Ye Hui
That translator Dong Li calls Chinese poet Ye Hui “metaphysical” in his introduction to The Ruins—a characterisation repeated in the book’s marketing material—might seem challenging, but in the fact the poems, while not exactly straightforward or immediately obvious, are—for most part—eminently accessible and interesting. Ye Hui will often start with a line or two that…
“Mirror”, poems by Zhang Zao
If one ever forgets what poetry is for, this newly-released collection is a reminder of its ability to renew, sooth and provoke. Mirror is a translation of a lengthy posthumous selection of Chinese poet Zhang Zao’s lifelong opus. Zhang, whose career spanned from the 1980s until his untimely death from cancer in 2010, spent much…
“The Magpie at Night: The Complete Poems of Li Qingzhao (1084–1151)” translated by Wendy Chen
Li Qingzhao (1084-1151 CE) is considered the greatest woman poet in Chinese history but, as translator Wendy Chen writes in her introduction, Li “remains relatively unknown in the West.” Chen, who first heard Li’s poetry as a child, is determined to help change this. The Magpie at Night is Chen’s translation of the Song-dynasty writer…
