A Global Award Elevating Jewish Themes Through Literary Translation

The Jewish Literary Foundation (JLF), in partnership with the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), has announced the launch of the Freudenheim Translation Prize, an international award celebrating outstanding English translations of fiction and non-fiction works that engage with Jewish life, identity, and culture. This is the most ambitious initiative in the Foundation’s history and marks a major step forward in recognizing literary translation as a cornerstone of cross-cultural dialogue.

Open to translators worldwide, the prize will honor books published in English between June 2023 and June 2025, originally written in any language other than English. Works can be submitted by translators, publishers, or authors and must be of significant interest to both Jewish and broader global audiences.

The winning translator will receive a £3,000 award and be invited to speak at Jewish Book Week 2026, participating in a dedicated panel on translation. This component underscores the Foundation’s broader mission of using literary platforms to amplify the voices and values of Jewish heritage in a multicultural world.

A Prize With Heart—and History

Sponsored by Tom and Leslie Freudenheim in honor of Adam Freudenheim, the award carries both personal and cultural significance. Its goal is not only to celebrate excellent translation work but also to highlight the enduring relevance of Jewish literature in today’s literary landscape.

The judging panel includes:

• Boyd Tonkin, chair – journalist and former literary editor at The Independent

• Hephzibah Anderson, journalist and broadcaster

• Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, author, educator, and broadcaster

In Tonkin’s words:

“Translations have long afterlives across space and time… They deserve more than anonymity and invisibility. The Freudenheim Translation Prize will enrich the unfolding dialogue between peoples, cultures, ages and subjects that translation has always, crucially, helped to convene.”

More Than Just a Prize

What sets this award apart is its deep cultural intent: to ensure that stories shaped by Jewish history, ethics, humor, trauma, and joy continue to resonate across languages. It also reinforces the unique role that literary translators play—not merely as linguistic mediators but as cultural ambassadors.

This initiative comes at a time when literary translation is both expanding and evolving, balancing between AI-assisted tools and human-crafted nuance. The Freudenheim Translation Prize serves as a reminder that storytelling across languages remains a fundamentally human art.