The UChicago Student Literary Translation Prize was established in 2024 in memory of translator Farouk Abdel Wahab Mustafa. The prize recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate excellence in literary translation. The prize aims to foster awareness of and excitement about the art of literary translation, offer support for emerging translators, and occasion a celebration of student work.
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For the 2025 prize, Judge Anne Janusch has selected the undergraduate student winner, senior Ekartha Sharma’s translation of “My Istanbul” from the German. The undergraduate student finalist is senior Theo Johnson’s translation of “From Nīlakēci: “The Grandeur of the Land” and “The Grandeur of the King” from the Middle Tamil.
Judge Carlos Soto Román has selected the graduate student winner, third-year joint PhD student in Comparative Literature and RLL Ye Ram (Esther) Kim’s translation of “La Trilogie coréenne by Ook Chung” from the French. The graduate student finalist is fifth-year joint PhD student in MES and Comparative Literature Naomi Harris’s translation of Muršili’s “Aphasia” from the Hittite.
For the inaugural prize 2024, award-winning translator and poet Oksana Maksymchuk selected one winner and two finalists from forty-nine submissions. Shaahin Pishbin (a PhD student in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations) was awarded First Prize for translating “Maẓhar-i gul” / “Manifestation of the Rose,” by Munīr Lāhorī from the Persian. The two finalists were Oscar Dorr (a senior in Philosophy and Linguistics), for “Katz und Maus” / “Cat and Mouse,” translated from the German of Günter Grass; and Shiyang Su (a first-year student in Creative Writing), for a suite of poems translated from the Chinese, “我曾经敞开的,还没有关闭” / /“What I have opened is not closed” and “我爱你” / “I Love You” by Yu Xiuhua and “伊人.” / “Yi Ren” by Kong-Kin Yau. The winning submission was recognized with an award of $250 and each finalist received an award of $100. Honorable mentions were given to Fion Tse (senior, Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Civilizations), Jasmine Yang (sophomore, Philosophy and Cognitive Science), Emilio Rosas Linhard (senior, Molecular Engineering), Elaine L. Wang (second-year PhD student, Committee on Social Thought), Liana Raguso (senior, English and Fundamentals), Jianghong An (PhD student, Anthropology), and Kartik Mani (PhD student, SALC).
Translations of poetry and prose were submitted by students majoring in a wide range of fields: from Molecular Engineering to Psychology, Economics, Anthropology, Biology, Philosophy, Comparative Literature, English, French, Fundamentals, and the Committee on Social Thought—and in languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Hittite, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Lakota, Latin, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Yiddish.
A celebratory soirée was held on Wednesday, February 28, 2024. To a packed room, the winner and two finalists gave a moving and energizing set of readings from their prize-winning submissions. Oksana Maksymchuk delivered an inspiring set of remarks, describing the strengths of the students’ translations, and urging all students present to dedicate themselves to their literary translation practice, and to cultivate friendships and support networks among translators. She also read from her own translations of Ukrainian war poetry. We celebrated Farouk Mustafa’s work and legacy, and followed the reading with a convivial gathering and reception. Hearty congratulations to all our student translators!
Shaahin Pishbin, Winner
“Maẓhar-i gul” / “Manifestation of the Rose”
by Munīr Lāhorī
Oscar Dorr, Finalist
“Katz und Maus” / “Cat and Mouse”
by Günter Grass
Shiyang Su, Finalist
“我曾经敞开的,还没有关闭” and “我爱你.” / “What I have opened is not closed” and “I Love You”
by Yu Xiuhua
“伊人.” / “Yi Ren”
by Kong-Kin Yau
Contest judge Oksana Maksymchuk, award-winning translator, poet, and scholar
Rachel Galvin (Director, Translation Studies), Oscar Dorr (Finalist), Oksana Maksymchuk (Judge), Shaahin Pishbin (Winner), Shiyang Su (Finalist)
