At the penultimate meeting for the awarding of the prize for the best literary translation “Dragi”, the jury committee consisting of Jana Mihajlovska PhD, Zorica Nikolovska PhD and Vladimir Jankovski selected the ladt round of five translators-finalist eoth publications published by five publishing houses and translations made from four different languages (the translators are listed according to the first letter of their name):
- Anastasija Gjurčinova for the translation from Italian of “The Intimate Life“ („Интимен живот“) by Niccolò Amaniti, published by Antolog, 2024;
- Gjoko Zdraveski for the translation from Croatian of “Three for Kartal” („Тројца за картал“) by Miljenko Jergović, Begemot., 2024;
- Ekaterina Babamova for the translation from English of “Victory City” („Градот на победата“) by Salman Rushdie, Artkonekt, 2023;
- Elisaveta Popovska for the translation from French of “A Girl’s Story” („Девојчински спомени“) by Annie Ernaux, published by “Ilika”,, 2024 and
- Irena Jurčeva for the translation from English of “The Silmarillion” („Силмарилион“) by J.R.R.Tolkien, published by “Publisher”, 2023.
Brief presentation of the five finalists
Anastasija Gjurčinova (1963) is an essayist and translator, and works as a professor of Italian literature at the Department of Italian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski". Her fields of interest are Italian studies, comparative studies, Macedonian studies, translation studies and transcultural studies. She is known as the author of seven critical-essay books and monographs, but also as the editor of numerous literary works, anthologies, scientific publications and collections. For her translation activity, she twice received the "Golden Pen" award, awarded by the Society of Literary Translators of Macedonia, as well as the National Award for translation oeuvre and affirmation of Italian literature abroad, awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Italy in 2015.
Gjoko Zdraveski was born in 1985 in Skopje. He graduated and received his master's degree at the Department of Macedonian Literature and South Slavic Literatures at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" - Skopje. He worked as a lecturer in Macedonian language at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nis, as an editor at the publishing houses "Begemot" and "Templum", as a librarian at the Department of Macedonian Language and South Slavic Languages at the Faculty of Philology in Skopje, and as an editor he also collaborated with internet portals. "Reper", "Blesok" and "Okno". From June 2014 to June 2018, together with Ana Golejška, he organized the literary festival "Astal Projections" in "Menada". He published four books of poetry, all in the "Ognovi" edition of the publishing house "Antolog". His poetry has been published in ten European languages. Since 2015, he has been part of the European poetry platform "Versopolis". In 2019, the publishing house "Begemot" published the book of short stories "Sections of Reality". So far, he has translated a dozen books from Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian into Macedonian language. Today he works as a Macedonian language lecturer at INALCO in Paris.
Ekaterina Babamova was born in Skopje on November 24, 1948. After completing primary and secondary education, she graduated from the Department of English Language and Literature with Russian Language at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" - Skopje. After graduation, she was employed as an English teacher at elementary school. "11 October", where she implemented experimental teaching from the first to the eighth grade using the direct method. The top results of the experimental teaching allowed her to be selected as an Independent Pedagogical Advisor for the teaching of foreign languages at the then Institute for the Advancement of Education. In 1980 and 1981, as a winner of a Fulbright scholarship, she stayed at Southern Illinois University in the USA, where she obtained a Master's degree in the field of applied linguistics. After the nostrification of the master's degree, she was employed as an assistant at the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" in Skopje. After defending her doctoral dissertation (1993), she was elected as an assistant professor, then as an associate professor, and therefore as a full professor at the same Department. She was also active in the field of translation: simultaneous, consecutive, professional and literary. During several decades of experience in the field of literary translation, she collaborated most closely with Graham and Margaret (Peggy) Reed, with whom she produced several joint works.
Elisaveta Popovska is a full professor of French and Francophone literary cultures at the Department of Romanian Languages and Literatures at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" in Skopje. She received her doctorate at the "Saints Cyril and Methodius" University on a topic in the field of French literature and earned the title of doctor of philological sciences. She has been working at the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" since 1994. As an invited professor, she teaches at the Faculty of Pedagogy at the University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in Bitola (2006 - 2009) and at the Department of French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nis, Serbia (2015 - 2017). She is the author of a significant number of scientific and professional papers published in the country and abroad, in important international journals in the United States of America, France, Belgium, Romania, Serbia. She translates from French into Macedonian articles and works in the field of humanities, as well as artistic literature - poetry renditions and translations of novels. She received the "Božidar Nastev" award twice for the best translation of the year.
Irena Jurčeva was born in 1982 in Belgrade. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology in Skopje, at the Department of Translation and Interpretation. In 2017, she defended her master's thesis on the topic "Cultural translation of The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien as a challenge for the translator". So far, she has published two books of poetry, "Secrecy" (2017, Metanoja) and "Our Unsettled Fire" (2022, Sovremenost) and two collections of short stories, "Dissolved World" (2021, Templum) and "White is the most terrible color" (2019, Templum) for which she received the award for the best debut prose manuscript "Novite!" She has been a guest at several poetry festivals, readings and slam competitions. Her poetry has been published in several literary magazines. She organized several creative writing workshops. She worked as a teacher of English and French in several schools and language centers in Skopje. She has translated more than fifteen books for three publishing houses in Macedonia. She is actively translating literature from the English language.
This year’s edition of the “Dragi” award is realized from the publishing house “Antolog”, with the support from the Ministry of culture and in cooperation with the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" – Skopje. The award consists of a plaque and a "Dragi" statuette, as well as a cash portion that will amount to 30,000 denars.
Initially for the award were nominated 43 works from 40 translators, published by 18 publishing houses or individuals, for translations made from 18 different languages and from all genres – novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry, drama.
Announcing and awarding the prizes
By partnering with the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" in Skopje, the announcement and awarding of the "Dragi" awards will take place on October 2nd at 12:30 in the hall of the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski", with a suitable ceremony in honor of the winners and nominees. The event will take place within the tenth, jubilee edition of the European Literature Festival "BookStar" 2024.
Benjamin Langer from Berlin to Skopje
As it was announced earlier, on the same occasion, the international award "Dragi" for the most significant translation of a Macedonian author into a foreign language will be awarded to the translator Benjamin Langer (Germany) for the translation of the timeless novel "Pirej" by Petre M. Andreevski from Macedonian to German. All this is happening in the year when the 90th anniversary of the author's birth is being celebrated. The presence of the awardee is realized in cooperation with the German Embassy, and he will also be a professional participant of the second fellowship program "Publishing Europe" (2nd Publishing Europe Fellowship).
The prize for the best translation into the Macedonian language "Dragi" was established in 2022, and the first honorary award was given to Dragi Mihajlovski (1951-2022), a Macedonian writer, translator, essayist and university professor. Apart from his prose works, Mihajlovski left a lasting mark on Macedonian culture with the translations of works by Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley, Keats, Blake, Eliot, Milton, etc. He also published several studies and essays in the field of translation theory, and with his views on translation, he influenced the students of the Faculty of Philology "Blaže Koneski" in Skopje, where he was a professor.
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