Asymptote Journal announces a new essay writing contest judged by JM Coetzee

Tell Asymptote Journal about a writer who deserves to be better known in the Anglophone world.

Asymptote, a journal dedicated to world literature in translation, has announced a new contest, to be judged by JM Coetzee.

The Asymptote Essay Contest is open to translators and non-translators alike, and invites essays introducing a writer working in a language other than English whose oeuvre deserves more attention than it currently receives from the English-speaking world.

The winner and up to five runners-up will respectively receive 500 USD (about R7,100) and 100 USD worth of prizes that include Asymptote Book Club subscriptions.

In addition to receiving prizes, the winners will also be featured in Asymptote’s Winter 2020 issue, joining an exceptional roster of contributors that includes Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Müller, Can Xue, Ismail Kadare, László Krasznahorkai, Stefan Zweig, Dubravka Ugrešić, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Anita Raja and Sawako Nakayasu.