Going Geffen
Posted on October 7, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 20 Comments
Hey, this is cool: The Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy gives out an annual award for the best original and translated science fiction published in Hebrew, called the Geffen Award. This year, the award for Best Translated Novel went to Old Man’s War, or ????? ???? ????, as it is called in Hebrew. Excellent.
I wasn’t there to accept the award on behalf of the novel (indeed, I wasn’t aware it had been given the award until a Whatever reader in Israel sent me an e-mail about it), but as long as I’m talking about it, let me send a thank you to Raz Greenberg, who was the translator of the book into Hebrew. I’d been assured by Hebrew readers that it had been a good translation; I suppose this is the confirmation of that. Also, clearly, many thanks to the Israeli fans. I’m very glad you liked the story.
through the book i came to the blog. however, I think i already wrote this here somewhere, the Hebrew translator is going to give SAM a sexual identity because of the Hebrew language
This is even more impressive if you consider the competition. Remember that this is an award for best translated work , so if an old book is finally translated , or has an old translation it gets to join the competition.
The other finalists were :
The Stars My destination , Alfred Bester
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress , Robert Heinlein
The Naked Sun , Isaac Asimov
Lost in a Good Book , Jasper Fforde
nice company , I think
Indeed! I didn’t know what other works were nominated.
John,
Mazel Tov! That’s pretty cool!
–Dennis
Sheesh, that cover seems so dark and creepy. Did the artist have any idea what the book was about? It looks like the cover to a zombie book, or a Holocaust memoir.
Aside from, of course, the very faint and hard-to-make-out moon and spacescape in the blackness.
Anyway, congratulations!
I just stumbled upon your site through a google search pertaining to schadenfreude. Your pie recipe was inspiring, and I am now developing a recipe for my own use. Your blog has made me and my friends extremely happy and gave us the best laugh that we have had in ages. Thanks.
I like the cover, very retro looking, although it probable could be used interchangeably for tons of different books.
Congrats. I just finished reading “Old Man’s War” on Friday and I’m reasonably certain it was truly excellent no matter what language it was in. I think I’m going to blog about it on my own blog on Monday
You beat out Heinlein, Asimov, and Bester? WOW! What more can I say?
The cover says I R SERIOUS NOVEL.
Thank you for posting, I was kinda hoping that you will, but was shied to ask.
Looking forward, may this winning will encourage the Israeli publisher to continue and translate more of your books.
BTW the Hebrew title rocks, it shines beautifully between all those left-to-right *Latin* words
A small clarification is perhaps needed here: the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy is indeed organizing body behind the Geffen Award, and its members choose the five final nominees from a list of genre books published throughout the year (this year, most of the books published in the science fiction category were re-issued classics, as the list reflects – the Heinlein, Bester and Asimov books were all previously published in Israel a few decades ago). The winner, however, can be voted for by any of the visitors to the ICON Festival (the biggest gathering event for genre fans here), Society members or not.
There’s no need to thank me, really – if anyone deserved a thanks for this award (other than the voters and the readers, of course), it is Eli Herstein of Yanshuf Publishing, for choosing the book and believing in it.
As I said in a previous post here, a few months back, translating “Old Man’s War” was a great experience, and I hope to have the chance to work on the sequels in the future.
Congratulations, John! I’m glad you were notified, one way or the other. I must say I’m surprised — I thought people here would vote for Heinlein and Asimov, myself. Maybe they felt the unfairness of the competition. :-)
Matt McIrvin: Hee!
And as a matter of fact, I did blog about OLD MAN’S WAR today. Dubbed, maybe with just a tiny bit of my tongue in my cheek, “John Scalzi–On The Edge of Greatness?”
http://www.markterrybooks.com/blog.html
Um, okay, so I’m going to go out on a limb here…
First, congrats on the award. That is really cool!
Second, um…how does this work with your copyright? Isn’t it illegal to translate and sell your work without permission?…
Okay, so I just re-read the post, and you just weren’t aware that “Old Man’s War” had been submitted. My bad…I’ll stop worrying about how you’re going to pay for Athena’s college education. :)
So, now that you got the award (A well deserved one, I voted for it. Really great book), what are the chances of showing up in person to collect the certificate some time in the future?
Well, I’ve been to Israel before (back in 1990), and I wouldn’t mind going back again.
Well, I’m no official body but I’m sure the right people would want to invite you at one point or another to come over. Icon maybe is the biggest convention we have but it sure isn’t the only one.
Maybe for the release of the second book, when it happens.
From the title of this post, I assumed you got a development deal with Dreamworks…