Alison Entrekin

Alison Entrekin
OccupationLiterary translator
Years active2000s–present
Known forTranslations of Brazilian and Portuguese literature
Notable workCity of God, Budapest, My Sweet Orange Tree, Near to the Wild Heart, Vastlands: The Crossing
AwardsNew South Wales Premier’s Translation Prize (2019), PEN Medallion, AAWP Translators’ Prize (2022)

Alison Entrekin is an Australian literary translator known for her translations of Brazilian and Portuguese literature into English. She has translated over forty books, including works by Chico Buarque, Paulo Lins, José Mauro de Vasconcelos, Cristóvão Tezza, and Clarice Lispector.[1]

Early life and education

Entrekin studied creative writing in Perth before pursuing literary translation in Brazil, where she lived for 24 years before returning to Australia.[1][2]

Career

Entrekin began her literary translation career in the early 2000s. Her first major work was the English translation of City of God by Paulo Lins, published in 2004.[3] She also translated Budapest by Chico Buarque, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.[4]

Her translation of My Sweet Orange Tree by José Mauro de Vasconcelos was published in 2008. In 2012, she translated The Eternal Son by Cristóvão Tezza, which was shortlisted for the 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[5] The same year, she published her translation of Clarice Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart, shortlisted for the 2013 PEN America Translation Prize.[6][7]

Her current major project is a new English translation of João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas (Great Sertão: Meanderings).[8] She was sought by the agency representing the author's heirs in 2014 with an offer to do a new translation of the book; the first one (titled The Devil to Pay in the Backlands) was made in 1965 by Harriet de Onís.[9] The first translation was criticized for not conveying the inventiveness of Rosa's language, who worked with the regionalisms and syntax of the people from the Sertão and created new words.[10] Entrekin got a funding grant from Itaú Cultural foundation to undertake the project and took ten years working on the new translation.[8][11]

An excerpt of this translation won the 2022 AAWP Translators' Prize, and the full translation is scheduled to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2026 under the title Vastlands: The Crossing.[12][13]

Entrekin’s shorter works and translations have appeared in journals and magazines including Words Without Borders,[14] Granta,[15] Modern Poetry in Translation,[16] Wasafiri[17] and The White Review.[18]

Awards and recognition

Entrekin won the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s Translation Prize and PEN Medallion, after being shortlisted for the prize in 2009, 2011, and 2013. She received the 2022 AAWP Translators’ Prize for an excerpt of Great Sertão: Meanderings.[12][19]

She has also been shortlisted for the 2005 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award,[5] and the 2013 PEN America Translation Prize.[6]

In addition, she was awarded an American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) Travel Fellowship in 2002[20] and placed third in the 2023 Stephen Spender Poetry Prize for a co-translation from Portuguese.[21]

Translation style and approach

In conversations, Entrekin has talked about how hard it is to translate literary works, especially when it comes to modernist and experimental works. In an interview with Asymptote Journal, she talked about how her immersion in Brazilian society helped her to communicate complex language. [22] In The Common, she wrote about how hard it was to translate Rosa's Grande Sertão: Veredas into English while still being true to the original and also making it easy for new readers to understand.[2]

She has also written for the Los Angeles Review of Books about adapting Clarice Lispector. In that piece, she talks about how Lispector's work includes a lot of different points of view.[23]

Selected works

  • City of God by Paulo Lins (2004)[5]
  • Budapest by Chico Buarque (2004)
  • My Sweet Orange Tree by José Mauro de Vasconcelos (2008)[7]
  • The Eternal Son by Cristóvão Tezza (2012)
  • Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector (2012)[6]
  • Great Sertão: Meanderings (excerpt, 2019)[12]
  • Vastlands: The Crossing (full translation of Grande Sertão: Veredas, forthcoming 2026)[11]

Reception

Entrekin’s translations have received positive reviews in English-language media. The Guardian praised her translation of Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart for its “liquid clarity”. Reviewing Buarque’s Budapest, Kirkus Reviews described her translation as “lyrical, rhythmic, and supple”. [24] Publishers Weekly highlighted her translation of City of God for its “raw, visceral energy”

References

  1. ^ a b "Alison Entrekin, a australiana que traduz grandes obras da literatura brasileira para o inglês". SBS Language. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  2. ^ a b "Playing Frankenstein: An Interview with Alison Entrekin". The Common. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  3. ^ "Translation challenges: From gang slang to poetic rabbits". BBC News. 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  4. ^ Tomkin, Boyd (28 January 2005). "A Week in Books: 2005's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist". The Independent.
  5. ^ a b c "Alison Entrekin". Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  6. ^ a b c kanopi_admin (2013-07-25). "2013 PEN Translation Prize". PEN America. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  7. ^ a b "Alison Entrekin | Author". Scribe. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  8. ^ a b "Guimarães Rosa: a saga de uma década para traduzir para o inglês o 'intraduzível' 'Grande Sertão: Veredas'". BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-03-14. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  9. ^ "Tradutora da nova versão para o inglês de 'Grande Sertão: Veredas' detalha desafios do processo - Verso". Diário do Nordeste (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  10. ^ "Flip 2015: Alison Entrekin busca apoio para nova tradução da obra-prima de Guimarães Rosa". O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  11. ^ a b Matsuda, Alicia (2024-10-23). "No Brasil, australiana fala sobre a década traduzindo Grande Sertão: Veredas". Jornal da USP (in Portuguese).
  12. ^ a b c "Prizes | Australasian Association of Writing Programs". Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  13. ^ PublishNews. "Tradutora radicada no Brasil ganha prêmio internacional". PublishNews (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  14. ^ "Search". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  15. ^ Kingston, Tom (2012-11-30). "That Year in Rishikesh". Granta. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  16. ^ "Search Results for "" – Modern Poetry in Translation".
  17. ^ Fuentes, Susana (2015-04-03). "Tiger and the Silk Cotton Tree: Translated by Alison Entrekin". Wasafiri. 30 (2): 64–65. doi:10.1080/02690055.2015.1011406. ISSN 0269-0055.
  18. ^ "The Urban Cyclist". The White Review. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  19. ^ "Alison Entrekin -Winner of the 2019 Translation Prize". State Library NSW. 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  20. ^ "ALTA". ALTA. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  21. ^ "Stephen Spender Prizewinners 2023". Stephen Spender Trust. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  22. ^ "In Conversation: Portuguese translator Alison Entrekin - Asymptote Blog". Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  23. ^ "The Many Souls of Clarice Lispector's Translators". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2025-09-11.
  24. ^ BUDAPEST | Kirkus Reviews.
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