The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shadow jury

One of the joys of running these great prizes from behind the scenes is seeing the passion for books on social media and across blogs and forums. When it comes to translated fiction, Thursday is #translationthurs, a designated day for bookish types to discuss their favourite books in translation. It has brought together so many Tweeters, bloggers, authors, translators and publicists. At Booktrust, we pride ourselves on our Translated Fiction section and the world we do celebrating the literature of the world.

So when a collective of translated fiction bloggers approached us and said they were planning to conduct a shadow jury for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, we were delighted. Seven bloggers, all with a particular interest in translated fiction, have all come together to discuss on Twitter, their own blogs and the Booktrust website too, their thoughts on the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 from longlist to winner.

But, that's enough from me. Let's hear from Gary of The Parrish Lantern, who will tell you more about what to expect and who exactly is taking part:

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize honours both writer and translator of the best work of fiction, translated & published in the UK. What makes this award unique is the placing of writer & translator on an equal footing. By doing so recognises the translator's role in bridging  the gap between languages and culture.

This year (2012) running in tandem with the the official judges are the shadow jury organised by Stuart J Allen of Winstonsdad, a literary blog,  whose credo is 'Reading the world one book at a time'. Stuart with the assistance of Booktrust organised a group of like-minded bloggers to form this shadow jury with the idea of working our way through the complete list and comparing our decision with the official one. The members of this jury are:

Stuart (Stu) Winstonsdad, who apart from organising this event, aims to introduce 'the best in translated fiction from all four corners of this world'.

Mark Eleutherophobia, who apart from being a writer and journalist from North Yorkshire, showcases a selection of the best literature on his blog.

Rob Robaroundbooks The best way to describe Rob's site is to call it a celebration of everything that may be considered bookish.

Simon Inside Books, has a passion for literature that is mainly confined to his commute to work, when he has the time he shares that love on his blog.

Lisa Anz Litlovers LitBlog, writes about Australian Literary fiction, Classics (Aussie & World) and comtemporary international fiction.

Tony Tony's Reading list, whose main interests are Victorian literature, Japanese Literature and German literature, the last preferably in the original language.

Gary The Parrish Lantern believes that 'The Ideal Library Symbolises Everything a Society stands for. A Society Depends On Its Libraries To Know Who it Is, Because Libraries Are Society's Memory' (A.Manguel).