Singing Grass and Paper Republic are delighted to announce a new prize for translated fiction from Chinese to English designed to showcase literary translators of contemporary voices. This exciting initiative will invite participants to translate a short extract from the acclaimed Mao Dun prize-winning author, Liu Zhenyun whose new novel: Salty Jokes has just taken China by storm. The winning translator will receive £1500 and 2 runners-up £500 each. The submissions will be judged by an international Jury of translation experts.

General

The competition is free to enter, and open to anyone, in any country, with an interest in translation. The judging panel includes the prominent literary translators Nicky Harman, Esther Tyldesley and Amanda Ruiqing Flynn.

Nicky Harman lives in the UK. She translates full-time from Chinese, focussing on contemporary fiction, literary non-fiction, and occasionally poetry, by a wide variety of authors. She also works for Paper-Republic.org, a non-profit registered in the UK, as a volunteer and a trustee. In 2020 she won the Special Book Award of China.

Esther Tyldesley is a literary translator with over 20 years’ experience in the field. She lives in Edinburgh, where she teaches Chinese language and Chinese-English translation at the University of Edinburgh.

Amanda Ruiqing Flynn is a writer, poet, literary translator and visual artist. She was a winner of the Golden Point Award in Translation 2025. Her writing has been anthologised in Best New Singaporean Short Stories. Raised in the United Kingdom, she currently resides in her birthplace, Singapore.

Prize

• £1500 First Prize
• £500 2 x Runners-Up Prizes
• The winning entry will be published on the Paper Republic website in June to coincide with the Beijing International Book Fair
• Please note that for any non-UK winners, the prize money may incur a small international money transfer fee

How to Enter

• The competition opens on February 16th 2026 and closes at midnight on April 19th 2026
• All entries must be in Word format and submitted by the closing date by email to info@singinggrass.com. Each submission will receive an automated reply to acknowledge the receipt.
• NO NAMES OR IDENTIFICATION CAN BE INCLUDED IN THE WORD DOCUMENT CONTAINING THE TRANSLATION
• All entries will be judged anonymously
• In the body of the email please include your name and contact information
• Co-translator submissions are welcome (maximum two, in the event of a winning submission, the prize amount will be equally distributed)
• A shortlist will be announced on the Paper Republic website on Monday June 1st 2026
• The winner and 2 runners-up will be notified under embargo by email by 4pm GMT on Monday June 8th 2026 and the announcement will be made during the Beijing International Book Fair June 17th – 21st 2026
• What the judges are looking for/ criteria? We are looking for an accurate literary translation that also captures the voice of the writer in a way that will appeal to an English reading audience.

Competition Focus

• Featured Author: Liu Zhenyun
• Text: 《咸的玩笑》
• Translators will be invited to submit an English translation of Mainbody II
• Length: approx. 2,419 Chinese characters
• Entrants will also be invited to suggest an English title for the novel
• A book synopsis is supplied, so there is no requirement to read the full novel.

The Chosen Text

There are many new and exciting contemporary Chinese writers publishing in the 21st century. One of the aims of the Voices of Today Literary Translation Prize is to connect both new and established translators with these writers. As a leading light in the contemporary Chinese literary field, and as an internationally published author, Liu Zhenyun supports the quest to foster connections across the Chinese-English language communities and has generously made text from his recently published novel available for use in this competition.

Please note that the judges’ decision is final and no individual feedback will be given although some general comments from the judges may be published. By entering, you give permission for your text to be published and agree to use your name in the winner announcement press release should you be selected as the winner or a runner-up.