The Literature Translation Institute of Korea announced the winners of the 2020 Korean Literature Translation Award, with Mariko Saito winning the grand prize.

For this year’s prize, 115 translated works in 24 languages were considered.

Mariko Saito, who translated the short story collection “To Hyun Nam Oppa” by Cho Nam-joo and six others into Japanese, won the top prize and 20 million won ($18,500) in prize money, last Thursday.

Translators Jeong Eun-jin and Jacques Batilliot, who translated “The White Book” by Han Kang into French, won the second prize and 10 million won in prize money.

Nine translators of three books -- “Gravedig” by Hwang Jung-eun, “Account of Myohyangsan” by Bak Je-ga and “Fire” by An Hoe-nam -- were selected for the Rookie Award. “Gravedig” was translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Arabic. Arabic was added to the list of target languages considered for the prize for the first time this year.

Professor Mark Peterson and Serge Safran, co-founder of Serge Safran Editeur, won the lifetime achievement award. The late Kevin O’ Rourke, the first non-Korean to obtain a Ph.D. in Korean literature, who passed away recently, was also recognized with a special lifetime achievement award.

The annual Korean Literature Translation Award, now in its 18th iteration, honors translators who contributed to the communication of Korean and international literature.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)