Susanna Roth Prize 2017: The Lake

Bianca Bellová: Lake (Host Publishing, 2016)

A fishing village somewhere at the end of the world. A lake that is drying up and ominously exposing its shores. The men have vodka, the women have worries, and the children scratch at their eczema. What does Nami have? Nami has nothing, just a grandmother with thick arms. Nami has nothing, just life ahead of her: the first love that Russian soldiers will take away from her, and then everything else. But when life begins at the very end of the world, perhaps it will end at its beginning. This story is as old as humanity itself. It is the journey of a hero, a boy who sets out on his journey with only a bundle of nerves and a coat from his grandfather. He must swim across the lake, go around it, and finally dive to its bottom for the greatest secret.

Participation in the competition

• Czech Centres: Budapest, Kyiv, London, Milan, Sofia, Seoul, Tokyo, Warsaw, Vienna

• Embassies of the Czech Republic: Belgrade, Minsk

• Number of received translations: 100

The winning translation was not announced in Belarus and Switzerland. In Great Britain, an honorary mention was awarded to the joint translation by Chris White and Genevieve Silk.

Awarded translators

• Bulgaria / Cvetelina Stoilova

• Italy / Giulia Paleari

• Japan / Shino Kubota

• South Korea / Pak Kjong-mi

• Hungary / Dóra Veress

• Poland / Anna Maślanka

• Serbia / Maša Pješčić

• Ukraine / Viktoriia Dehtiarenko

• Great Britain / Julia Sutton-Mattocks

The winners of this year's 4th edition of the Susanna Roth Translation Competition participated in a rich programme at several locations in the Czech Republic. In addition to a Bohemistics seminar, they also visited Český Krumlov.