Stevns Translation Prize
The Stevns Translation Prize, run by Peirene Press (UK) and Two Lines Press (US), is an annual award for emerging translators to translate their first full-length work of fiction. Every year, a different language and book is chosen and entrants are invited to translate an extract. The winning entrant is offered a contract to translate the whole book, along with a mentorship from an experienced translator and a retreat in the French Pyrenees.
The winner of the 2026 Stevns Translation Prize is Ally Le.
As this year’s prizewinner, Ally will translate Bảo Tàng Lông [Museum of Hair] by Maik Cây from Vietnamese to English, to be published by Peirene Press (UK) and Two Lines Press (US) in 2027. She will receive mentorship from acclaimed translator Nguyễn An Lý – who will support her in translating her first full-length work of fiction – and a four-week retreat in the French Pyrenees.
Ally Le (she/they) is a historian, writer, poet and translator working between Hong Kong and Vietnam. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature and Hong Kong Studies from the University of Hong Kong, and is reading for an MPhil in childhood history in French colonial Vietnam at her alma mater. Ally speaks Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, some French, and translates between Vietnamese, Chinese, and English. In 2025, she was the recipient of a Residential Bursary to attend the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) Summer School at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK). Her creative writings and translations have appeared on Zzz Review (on hiatus), Mekong Review, Art Nation, Canto Cutie, The Primer, The Newsletter of the IIAS (Leiden University), and forthcoming elsewhere.
This year’s finalists, receiving special commendation from the judges are:
- Lukas Tuyết Tùng
- Nguyễn Thị Bích Trâm
- Chau Anh Nguyễn
Huge congratulations to Ally and our three finalists. And thank you to everyone who applied — the prize received 67 submissions this year, and judges Nguyễn An Lý, Vi Khi Nao, and Deborah Smith were impressed by the range of diverse and creative approaches to a challenging text.
Previous Prize Years
2025
Text: Avant que j’oublie by Anne Pauly (French)
Winner: Dina Leifer
Finalists: Victoria Baena, Kate McNamara
Judges: Adriana Hunter (mentor), Kate Briggs, Amanda Quinn
2024
Text: Zee Nu by Eva Meijer (Dutch)
Winner: Anne Thompson Melo
Finalists: Michael Blass, Jake Goldwasser, Lucelle Pardoe
Judges: Michele Hutchison (mentor), Haico Kaashoek, Paul Vincent, CJ Evans