Winning Italy’s National Translation Award Was a Once-in-a-lifetime Experience!

Professionally, my big news this year has been winning the Italian Ministry of Culture’s National Translation Award, a dream come true! Finding out was a huge satisfaction and traveling to Rome to receive it from the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, a great joy. I’ll never forget the ceremony, held in the Sala Crociera at the ministry’s headquarters, the Collegio Romano. And it was great to be able to attend with my dear colleague Regina López Muñoz, who was doing a translation residency in Rome.

And the best of all is to have received the award for three translations that have meant so much to me: Dopo il divorzio by Grazia Deledda (Cántico), Andrea Camilleri’s posthumous Riccardino (Salamandra) and La bella estate by Cesare Pavese (Catedral).

I treasure the jury’s ruling, which was read there in Rome on the day and was very moving:

And this is the speech I prepared for the ceremony: