Abolhassan Najafi Translation Award

First published: January 28, 2019 | Edit and update: March 3, 2025

Renowned Iranian writer and translator Abolhassan Najafi was born in Najaf of Iraq to a religious Isfahani family on 28^th June 1929 and passed away on 22^nd January 2016. Contemporary Persian literature owes him a lot for his literary activities for almost seven decades beginning in the 1960s, including superb translations of several books from French into Persian, co-publication of the famous literary periodical Jong-e Isfahan, where he developed the literary school of Isfahan along with Houshang Golshiri and the younger Bahram Sadeqi, his prolific studies on the metric system of Persian Poetry, and his breakthrough monograph on editorial issues of contemporary Persian language and its common mistakes, entitled “Let’s Not Write It Wrong” [غلط ننویسیم].

Najafi was a member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (1990–2016). He taught Persian at the universities of Tehran and Isfahan, and was an expert in linguistics and Persian meters.

A year after Najafi died of lung infection in Tehran, the Iranian Book City Institute founded the Abolhassan Najafi Literary Translation Award in his memory. This annual award tends to evaluate and commemorate young and aspiring literary translators whose work follows the standards set by Najafi himself. The award’s jury are composed of the most eminent senior writers and translators such as Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mahasti Bahraini, Mozhdeh Daghighi, Mousa Aswar, and Mahmoud Hosseinizad. The jury members might slightly change for every edition.

Eighth Edition 2024 [1403]

Shortlist

1. Zeynab Armand for translating Cynan Jones’s The Long Drym [Zendegi-e Roozaneh Pub]
2. Mazdak Blouri for translating Barbara Pym’s Quartet in Autumn [Bidgol Pub]
3. Mohammadreza Tork-Tatari for translating E. L. Doctorow’s Andrew’s Brain: A Novel [Bidgol Pub]
4. Amin Madi for translating Thomas Wolfe’s  short novels [Goman Pub]
5. Sara Saei-Dibavar for translating Alexandre Postel’s Un automne de Flaubert [Ney Pub]
6. Moein Farrokhi for translating David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest [Borj Pub]
7. Maryam Khorasani for translating Alexis Jenni’s L’art francais de la guerre: roman [Nimaj Pub]

The 8th Award Winner

• Mazdak Bolouri for translating Barbara Pym’s Quartet in Autumn

The Jury

• Zia Movahed, Mahasti Bahraini, Abdollah Kosari, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Mousa Aswar, Omid Tabibzadeh, and Abtin Golkar

Seventh Edition 2023 [1402]

Shortlist

1. Pejman Tehranian for translating Hanif Kureishi’s Gabriel’s Gift [Borj Pub]
2. Mohammadreza Turk-Tatari for translating Julian Barnes’s ‫Elizabeth Finch [Ney Pub]
3. Abolfazl Allahdadi for translating Parisa Reza’s Les Jardins De Consolation [Borj Pub]
4. Tayebeh Hashemi for translating Helen Garner’s The Children’s Bach [Bidgol Pub]
5. Ali Abdollahi for translating Robert Walser’s Geschwister Tanner: Roman [Nashr-e-No Pub]
6. Niloofar Sadeghi for translating Susan Sontag’s In America [Borj Pub]
7. Saeid Matin for translating Isabel Allende’s Largo pétalo de mar [Borj Pub]

The 7th Award Winner

• Niloofar Sadeghi for translating Susan Sontag’s In America

The Jury

• Mahasti Bahraini, Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mousa Aswar, Omid Tabibzadeh, Abtin Golkar

Sixth Edition 2022 [1401]

Shortlist

1. Narges Ghandilzadeh for translating Ilyas Khuri’s Gate of the Sun [Ney Pub]
2. Sara Palidi for translating Cecelia Ahern’s PS, I Love You [Moon Pub]
3. Khatereh Kord-Karimi for translating Marina Lewycka’s A short history of tractors in Ukrainian
4. Vazrik Dersahakian for translating Indro Montanelli’s Le general dellarovere [Nashr-e-No Pub]
5. Hanieh Pedram for translating Carson McCullers’ The Member of the Wedding [Bidgol Pub]
6. Mohammad Nejabati for translating Emile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin [Farhang-e Moaser]
7. Farid Dabir-Moqaddam for translating Natanael West’s The Day of the Locust [Mahi Pub]
8. Tahoora Ayati for translating The Revolutionaries Try Again by Mauro Javier Cardenas [Borj Pub]
9. Abolfazl Allahdadi for translating Michel Houellebecq’s  La carte et le territoire [Nashr-e-No Pub]

The 6th Award Winner

• Narges Ghandilzadeh for translating Ilyas Khuri’s Gate of the Sun [باب الشمس]

The Jury

• Mahasi Bahraini, Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mousa Aswar, Omid Tabibzadeh, Abtin Golkar

Fifth Edition 2021 [1400]

1. Abolfazl Allahdadi for translating Oscar Coop-Phane’s Le procès du cochon [Nashr-e No]
2. Babak Shahab for translating Evgenii Ivanovich Zamiatin’s Мы [“Us”, Bidgol Pub]
3. Farzaneh Doosti for translating Kate Chopin’s Awakening [Bidgol Pub]
4. Forough Puryavari for translating Ivan Klima’s My Crazy Century [Agah Pub]
5. Mazdak Bolouri for translating Chester B. Himes’ A Rage in Harlem [Bidgol Pub]
6. Yalda Bidokhtinejad for translating Liudmila Ulitskaia’s ВЕСЕЛЫЕ ПОХОРОНЫ [Borj Books]
7. Ahmad Parhizi for translating Laurent Bineh’s HHhH [Mahi Pub]
8. Mahshid Mirmoezzi for translating Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday [Saless Pub]

The 5th Joint Award Winners

• Farzaneh Doosti for translating Kate Chopin’s Awakening
• Ahmad Parhizi for translating Laurent Bineh’s HHhH

The Jury:

• Mahasti Bahraini, Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mousa Aswar, Omid Tabibzadeh, Abolfazl Horri, Abtin Golkar

Fourth Edition 2019-20 [1398-9]

Shortlist

1. Ali-Asghar Haddad for translating Joseph Winkler’s Wenn es soweit ist : Erzählung [Mahi Pub]
2. Sepas Reyvandi for translating Primo Levi’s  Survival in Auschwitz : the Nazi assault on humanity [Mahi Pub]
3. Farzaneh Taheri for translating Andrey Bely’s Petersburg [Markaz Pub]
4. Nooshin Tayebi for translating Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See [Niloufar Pub]
5. Mohammadreza Turk-Tatari for translating J. M. Coetzee’s The Master of Petersburg [Mahi Pub]
6. Mahmoud Goudarzi for translating Abbé Prevost’s Manon Lescaut [Ofoq Pub]
7. Mohammadreza Parsayar for translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire [Farhang Moaser]
8. Mohammad Nejabati for translating Vinght mille lieues sous les mers [Qoqnoos Pub]

The 4th Joint Award Winners

• Ali-Asghar Haddad
• Mohammadreza Turk-Tatari

The Jury:

• Mahasti Bahraini, Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mousa Aswar, Abolfazl Horri, Abtin Golkar

Third Edition 2018 [1397]

Shortlist

1. Ahmad Okhovat for translating William Faulkner’s short stories, titled Of Men and Horses[Ofoq]
2. Mojgan Hosseini Rouzbehani for translating La nebuleuse de crab Qoqnoos]
3. Abolfazl Allahdadi for translating
   L’extraordinaire voyage du fakir qui était resté coincé dans une armoire Ikea by Romain ‬Puértolas [Qoqnoos]
4. Zeinab Younesi for translating
   Зулейха открывает глаза by Yakhina Guzel [Niloofar]
5. Abtin Golkar for translating
   Kroliki & udavy by Fazil Iskandar [Ofoq]

The 3rd Award Winner

• Zeinab Younesi
• Ahmad Okhovat (winner of the Third edition’s Special Award)

The Jury:

• Manouchehr Badiei, Zia Movahed, Mahasti Bahraini, Abdollah Kosari, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Mousa Aswar, Saeid Rezvani

Second Edition 2018 [1396]

Shortlist

1. Reza Rezaei for translating George Eliot’s Silas Marner (Ney Pub)
2. Amir-Mahdi Haghighat for translating a short story by Miroslav Penkov, in the short story collection Buying Lenin [Mahi Pub]
3. Asghar Nouri for translating “L’analphabete” and “C’est egal” by Agota Kristof [Morvarid Pub]
4. Mohammad Hemmati for translating Le Marche de Radetzky by Joseph Roth
5. Farzaneh Doosti for translating Wild Nights by Joyce Carol Oates [Ney Pub]
6. Bahman Darolshafaei for translating George Orwell’s
   Down and out in Paris and London [Mahi Pub]

The 2nd Award Winner

• Mohammad Hemmati
  • The Jury
    • Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Mahasti Bahraini, Mousa Aswar, Mozhdeh Daghighi, Mahmoud Hosseinizad

First Edition 2017 [1395]

Shortlist 

1. Narges Entekhabi for translating Katherine Mansfield’s Garden Party (Mahi Pub)
2. Khojasteh Keyhan for translating Paul Auster’s Report from the Interior (Ofoq Pub)
3. Ehsan Norouzi for translating Jack Keruak’s On the Road (Cheshmeh Pub)
4. Ali Masoumi for translating Tim O’Brien’s What They Carried (Qoqnoos Pub)
5. Abtin Golkar for translating Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev’s Иваап Сергеевич… (Mahi Pub)

The 1st Award Winner

• Abtin Golkar

The Jury

• • Zia Movahed, Hossein Masoumi-Hamedani, Abdollah Kosari, Mahasti Bahraini, Mozhdeh Daghighi, Mahmoud Hosseinizad