New Delhi: The 2023 edition of the Jawad Memorial Prize for Urdu-English Translation has been awarded to Poorna Swami’s translation of the poem ‘Falasteeni’ (‘Palestinian’) by Fehmida Riaz.The runner-up prize has been awarded to Mohd Aqib’s translation of ‘Pabandi’ (‘Prohibition’) by Ahmed Nadim Qasmi.The jury noted, “The poem ‘Palestinian’ translated its source material with fidelity, but without sacrificing a poetic sensibility of its own. Among the poems we examined, it presented a shining example of how good translation threads the needle between minimising the loss of original metaphor and maximising the lyrical quality of the output language. The quality of submitted translations was consistently good, making for a tough choice but, ultimately, this poem truly stood out.”“The runner-up, ‘Prohibition,’ is a short poem and the translator has effectively communicated its resistance against censorship and prohibition. The jury found the poem’s imagery of rolling pearls and drops falling on raging fires most evocative,” it added.Poorna Swami’s essays and reportage have appeared in The Caravan, Open, and London Review of Books (web), among others.Previously holding the position of India editor-at-large at the international translation quarterly Asymptote, Swami also co-edited the journal’s first feature on Indian language poetry translated into English.Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University.Mohd Aqib is a University Grants Commission junior research fellow and a PhD candidate at the Department of English at Jamia Millia Islamia university.Also read: A Translation of Ghalib’s Persian Ode to Banaras Reminds Us of What Makes Us HindustaniThe Jawad Memorial Prize gets its name from Ali Jawad Zaidi, an Urdu poet and scholar and winner of several awards including the Padma Shri, the Ghalib award, Mir Anis award among others. The Prize was initiated shortly after his birth centenary in 2016 to honour his legacy of literature that served as a bridge between languages, cultures and histories.Apart from several books of prose and poetry, Zaidi published several scholarly works such as A History of Urdu Literature, Uttar Pradesh ke Marsiyago and Taarikh-e-Mushayara, all of which contributed to his tireless efforts towards making Urdu literature accessible to all, regardless of the language they speak.The judges for this year’s prize were literary critic and translator Anisur Rahman as well as author Raza Mir.Formerly a professor of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, and a senior advisor at Rekhta Foundation, Rahman has worked and published in the areas of comparative, translation, postcolonial, and Urdu studies. His recent publications include Earthenware: Sixty Poems (Rubric Publishing, 2018), In Translation: Positions and Paradigms (Orient Blackswan, 2019), Socioliterary Cultures in South Asia (Niyogi Books, 2019), Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi: The Wonderful World of Urdu Ghazals (HarperCollins, 2019), and Hazaar Rang Shaairi: The Wonderful World of the Urdu Nazm (HarperCollins 2022). Rahman has been a Shastri Fellow at the University of Alberta, Canada (2001-2002) and a Visiting Scholar at Purdue University, US (2007).Raza Mir is a professor of management at William Paterson University in the US. His latest books are Iqbal: Poet of the East (Penguin, 2022) and Murder at the Mushaira (Aleph 2021).Also read: When the Moon Gets Caught in the Barbed Wire, Over the Prison WallPrevious winnersThe 2022 prize went to Sana R. Chaudhry’s translation of ‘Pyaare Ustaad’ written by Julien Columeau. The runner-up prize was shared by Shama Askari for her translation of ‘Begum’ by Ibn e Sai’d; and Sabyn Javeri for ‘The Busy Woman,’ a translation of ‘Masroof Aurat’ by Khalida Hussain.The 2021 prize was shared by Aalim Akhtar for his translation of ‘Hari Bol’ by Zakia Mashhadi, and Bilal Tanweer for ‘Parasite’ (Keera) written by Bilal Hasan Minto. There was a jury commendation for Nazia Akhtar’s translation of ‘Chhottam Jaan‘ by Zeenath Sajida and Fathima M.’s translation of ‘Shadows’ (Saaye) by Khalid Jawed.The 2020 winner was Haider Shahbaz’s translation of ‘The Sea’ by Khalida Hussain. There was no runner-up. However, there was a jury commendation for ‘Tiffin Carrier’ by Muneera Surati, translated by the author herself.