KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Malaysian writer and translator Pauline Fan has been named one of six winners of the inaugural PEN Presents x International Booker Prize programme for her English translation of The Last Days of Jesselton, originally written in Malay.
The award, jointly launched by English PEN and the Booker Prize Foundation in 2024, supports translators from the Global Majority and aims to address longstanding underrepresentation in the UK publishing landscape.
“These six samples are stunningly different in voice and style and theme, and stunningly alike in their brilliance,” said Will Forrester, Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN.
“They speak to why English PEN and the Booker Prize Foundation have partnered on this project.”
The original novel, titled Hari-Hari Terakhir di Jesselton, was published in Malay in 2018 by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and is a historical novel by Sabah-born author Ruhaini Matdarin.
Set during the final days of British rule in North Borneo, now Sabah, the novel explores themes of transition, memory and identity against the backdrop of British colonial withdrawal.
Fan’s translation is the first PEN Presents-winning project to feature a work originally published in Malay, marking a milestone for Malaysian literature in translation.
The other five winners of the PEN Presents x International Booker Prize programme are John Bengan for a translation from Cebuano of The Man with a Thousand Names by R. Joseph Dazo (Philippines); Christian Jil R. Benitez for a translation from Filipino of Time of the Eye by Alvin B. Yapan (Philippines); Mayada Ibrahim and Najlaa Eltom for a translation from Arabic of Ireme by Stella Gaitano (Sudan); Tiffany Tsao for a translation from Indonesian of The Born Out of Wedlock Club by Grace Tioso (Indonesia); and Anam Zafar for a translation from Arabic of Playing with Soldiers by Tariq Asrawi (Palestine).
The selected works represent five languages and five regions, with Fan joining other translators whose samples will be promoted to publishers and commissioning editors across the UK and wider Anglophone markets.
The programme awarded shortlisted translators grants of £500 (approximately RM2,848) to produce 5,000-word samples, which were reviewed by independent assessors and a panel of seven experts chaired by writer and professor Preti Taneja.
Fan’s translation will be showcased on the English PEN website alongside the other winning samples, with around half of all PEN Presents-winning projects later acquired by publishers.
The International Booker Prize is widely regarded as the most influential award for translated fiction published in the UK and Ireland.
