THE EIGHTH LIFE by Nino Haratischvili wins 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
Following its longlisting for the Booker International Prize 2020, we are delighted that Nino Haratischvili's epic family saga THE EIGHTH LIFE (FOR BRILKA),which is set in Georgia, has been awarded this year's Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. The translators are Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin, and the English edition was published by Scribe in 2019.
Judge Susan Bassnett branded THE EIGHTH LIFE “a terrific book”. She said: “At 934 pages it may look daunting at first, but as soon as you begin to read, Nino Haratischvili's storytelling skills draw you in to the multifaceted narrative. Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin have done a superb job, maintaining the lightness of narrative touch and moving between the many voices of the different generations. I loved this book”.
The German edition won the Anna Seghers Prize, the Lessing Prize Stipend, and the Bertolt Brecht Prize.
‘A harrowing, heartening and utterly engrossing epic novel … astonishing … A subtle and compelling translation by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin (on the heels of a Georgian version earlier this year) should make this as great a literary phenomenon in English as it has been in German.’ Maya Jaggi, The Guardian
‘The Eighth Life… is a lavish banquet of family stories that can, for all their sorrows, be devoured with gluttonous delight. Nino Haratischvili’s characters … come to exuberant life. Her huge novel … shows a double face, its crushing pain and loss nonetheless conveyed with an artful storyteller’s sheer joy in her craft.’ Boyd Tonkin, The Financial Times
‘Elegant ... It is a triumph of both authorship and painstaking translation ... The Eighth Life is an unforgettable love letter to Georgia and the Caucasus, to lives led and to come, and to writing itself.’ Catherine Taylor, The Economist
Find out more about THE EIGHTH LIFE (FOR BRILKA) here.