The Best Translated Book Award was an American literary award that honored the best original translations into English from the previous year. Each year, it recognized one book of poetry and one book of fiction. The award began in 2008 and was given out by Three Percent, an online literary magazine linked to Open Letter Books, which is a book translation press at the University of Rochester. Every year, a list of possible books and a shorter list were announced before the award was given.

The award considered not only the quality of the translation but also the work of the original writer, translator, editor, and publisher. It aimed to celebrate and recognize translators, editors, publishers, and others who help make books from other cultures available to American readers.

In October 2010, Amazon.com announced it would fund the prize with a $25,000 grant. This allowed both the translator and the original author to receive $5,000 each. Before this, the award did not include a cash prize.

In January 2023, the award’s creator, Chad Post, wrote on the Three Percent blog that the award, which had not been given out since 2020, would remain paused for now.

Awards

The first awards were given in 2008 for books published in 2007. The Best Translation Book Awards are named based on the year the award is presented, with the books published the year before.

The first award was announced on January 4, 2008, for books published in 2007. Readers of Three Percent voted to choose the winner and helped create the longlist.

• Guantanamo by Dorothea Dieckmann. Translated from German by Tim Mohr. Published by Soft Skull.
• The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. Translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer. Published by FSG.
• Autonauts of the Cosmoroute by Julio Cortázar. Translated from Spanish by Anne McLean. Published by Archipelago Books.
• Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi. Translated from Persian by Kamran Rastegar. Published by Melville House.
• Ravel by Jean Echenoz. Translated from French by Linda Coverdale. Published by New Press.
• Sunflower by Gyula Krúdy. Translated from Hungarian by John Batki. Published by NYRB.
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. Translated from Norwegian by Anne Born. Published by Graywolf Press.
• Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen. Translated from Dutch by the author. Published by Dalkey Archive.
• Montano's Malady by Enrique Vila-Matas. Translated from Spanish by Jonathan Dunne. Published by New Directions.
• The Assistant by Robert Walser. Translated from German by Susan Bernofsky. Published by New Directions.

• The Drug of Art: Selected Poems by Ivan Blatny. Translated from Czech by Justin Quinn, Matthew Sweney, Alex Zucker, Veronika Tuckerova, and Anna Moschovakis. Published by Ugly Duckling.
• The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950–1492 edited and translated from Hebrew by Peter Cole. Published by Princeton.
• The Collected Poems: 1956–1998 by Zbigniew Herbert. Translated from Polish by Czesław Miłosz, Peter Dale Scott, and Alissa Valles. Published by Ecco.

The award was announced on February 19, 2009, for books published in 2008. A ceremony was held at Melville House Publishing in Brooklyn, hosted by author and critic Francisco Goldman.

• Tranquility by Attila Bartis. Translated from Hungarian by Imre Goldstein. Published by Archipelago Books.
• 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
• Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño. Translated from Spanish by Chris Andrews. Published by New Directions.
• Voice Over by Céline Curiol. Translated from French by Sam Richard. Published by Seven Stories.
• The Darkroom of Damocles by Willem Frederik Hermans. Translated from Dutch by Ina Rilke. Published by Overlook.
• Yalo by Elias Khoury. Translated from Arabic by Peter Theroux. Published by Archipelago Books.
• Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. Translated from Spanish by Katherine Silver. Published by New Directions.
• Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge. Translated from French by Richard Greeman. Published by New York Review of Books.
• Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra. Translated from Spanish by Carolina De Robertis. Published by Melville House Publishing.
• The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig. Translated from German by Joel Rotenberg. Published by New York Review of Books.

• For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut by Takashi Hiraide. Translated from Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu. Published by New Directions.
• Essential Poems and Writings by Robert Desnos. Translated from French by Mary Ann Caws, Terry Hale, Bill Zavatsky, Martin Sorrell, Jonathan Eburne, Katherine Connelly, Patricia Terry, and Paul Auster. Published by Black Widow.
• You Are the Business by Caroline Dubois. Translated from French by Cole Swensen. Published by Burning Deck.
• As It Turned Out by Dmitry Golynko. Translated from Russian by Eugene Ostashevsky, Rebecca Bella, and Simona Schneider. Published by Ugly Duckling.
• Poems of A.O. Barnabooth by Valery Larbaud. Translated from French by Ron Padgett & Bill Zavatsky. Published by Black Widow.
• Night Wraps the Sky by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Translated from Russian by Katya Apekina, Val Vinokur, and Matvei Yankelevich, and edited by Michael Almereyda. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
• A Different Practice by Fredrik Nyberg. Translated from Swedish by Jennifer Hayashida. Published by Ugly Duckling.
• EyeSeas by Raymond Queneau. Translated from French by Daniela Hurezanu and Stephen Kessler. Published by Black Widow.
• Peregrinary by Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki. Translated from Polish by Bill Johnston. Published by Zephyr.
• Eternal Enemies by Adam Zagajewski. Translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

The award was announced on March 10, 2010, at Idlewild Books. According to award organizer Chad Post, "On the fiction side of things we debated and debated for weeks. There were easily four other titles that could've easily won this thing. Walser, Prieto, Aira were all very strong contenders."

• The Confessions of Noa Weber by Gail Hareven. Translated from Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger. Published