Our own Lilit Žekulin Thwaites is the winner of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) and Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Translator’s Prize (UWRF)

Lilit wins this Prize for her translation of Luisa Etxenike’s Cuerdas. Scroll down this page here to read the Translator’s statement followed by the Judge’s report.

The winner receives a written commendation from AAWP, a festival pass to UWRF and accomodation for the duration of the festival. In addition, they receive fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP, where they will be invited to read from their work. The editors at Meniscus Literary Journal will also consider the work for publication.

Another of Lilit’s translation, Lerna, tops the list of Highly Commended.

Well done, Lilit.

Judith Bishop and Alison Entrekin have both won 2026 Creative Australia Fellowships

Congratulations to our two members, Judith Bishop and Alison Entrekin, for receiving Fellowships to advance innovative new work in poetry, creative nonfiction and literary translation, helping Australian stories and voices reach audiences across languages and borders.

The Fellowships are each worth $80,000 over up to two years, and support artists to deepen their practice and develop ambitious new work.

More information here.

The 2025 NSW biennial Translation Prize Awarded to AALITRA Member Elizabeth Bryer

Elizabeth Bryer won the prize for her English-language rendition of Eduardo Sangarcía’s haunting debut novel, The Trial of Anna Thalberg. Congratulations, Elizabeth!

In an interview with Sarah TImmer Harvey Elizabeth explained how the Award “Changes Everything”.

2025 Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award Shortlist

Our very own Lilit Žekulin Thwaites (see below for Lilit previous awards) is shortlisted for the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award (SUFTA). Inaugurated in 2022, the USD5,000 cash prize is offered by the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) in conjunction with the Spain-USA Foundation. The award recognizes translations into English of literary prose works written originally by authors of Spanish (Spain) nationality. The award winner will be announced on November 6, 2025.

This year’s judges are Amaia Gabantxo, Elizabeth Lowe, and Lucía Aranda. Follow this link to see what the judges had to say about each of the shortlisted titles:

Crossing Waters by Luisa Etxenike, translated from Spanish by Lilit Žekulin Thwaites (Sundial House)

Once Upon Argentina by Andrés Neuman, translated from Spanish by Nick Caistor and Lorenza García (Open Letter Books)

Paraguayan Sorrow by Rafael Barrett, translated from Spanish by William Costa (Monthly Review Press)

Robert Savage

Australian Academy of the Humanities 2022 Medal for Excellence in Translation for his translation of Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger’s monumental biography of eighteenth-century Habsburg empress, Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time.

Lilit ŽekulinThwaites