Join us as we count down to ALTA42: Sight and Sound with the National Translation Award in Poetry and Prose long- and shortlisted titles! We will be featuring the titles in alphabetical order alongside blurbs penned by our judges for the National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose. This year’s prose judges are Bonnie Huie, Charlotte Mandell, and Jeffrey Zuckerman. This year’s judges for poetry are Anna Deeny Morales, Cole Heinowitz, and Sholeh Wolpe.
For quick reference, you may find the NTA longlists here, and the NTA shortlists here. Today we’re shining the spotlight on Poetry NTA longlisted title The Popul Vuh:
The Popul Vuh
by Anonymous
translated from the K’iche’ by Michael Bazzett
(Milkweed Editions)
An enchanting creation story, The Popol Vuh is replete with creators, prototype creations, evil gods, and heroes whose journey into “hell” is as entrancing as Dante’s Inferno, written a millennium later. The sacred text of the K’iche’ people, who constitute approximately 11% of the Guatemalan population, this book was closely guarded until an 18th century Dominican friar earned the trust of his K’iche’ parishioners and copied the original text in Spanish. Later, the text was assumed to have been contaminated by Christianity, but a 2009 archeological discovery in Northern Guatemala unearthed two carved panels which confirmed the authenticity of the ancient story. Michael Bassett ’s vivid modern translation of this captivating story successfully resurrects this significant Mayan epic as lucid, lively and accessible verse in English.