Action Books

10/25/2026

We're excited to announce the winner of the 2026 National Translation Award in Poetry: I HAVE BROUGHT YOU A SEVERED HAND by Ghayath Almadhoun, translated from Arabic by Catherine Cobham, published by Action Books! https://literarytranslators.org/2026ntapoetrywinner-ihavebrought/

Starting in 1998, the National Translation Award is awarded annually to literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Since 2015, the National Translation Award is conferred separately in poetry and prose. This year’s poetry judges are Karen Kovacik, Karen Leeder, and Robyn Creswell.

This year’s winner was announced at the Awards Ceremony held during ALTA’s 49th annual conference, ALTA49: Give and Take, held in Portland, OR from October 21-24, 2026.

10/25/2026

We're excited to announce the winner of the 2026 ALTA First Translation Prize: W & E: A REFRACTED TRANSLATION OF WULF AND EADWACER by anonymous, translated from Old English by M.L. Martin, edited by Johannes Göransson and Katherine Hedeen, published by Action Books! https://literarytranslators.org/2026aftpwinner-wande/

Starting in 2024, the ALTA First Translation Prize recognizes the work of emerging literary translators and their editors. This annual prize is open to all genres, and awards one debut literary translation from any other language into English published in the previous calendar year. This year’s judges are Kristen Vida Alfaro, Tess Lewis, and Wendy Call .

This year’s winner was announced at the Awards Ceremony held during ALTA’s 49th annual conference, ALTA49: Give and Take, held in Portland, OR from October 21-24, 2026.

06/15/2026

06/03/2026

This week's Stockroom Picks features selections from James Pate (author of Flowers Among the Carrion). Visit the link below to view his picks:

"[Bruno K. Öijer's] The Trilogy captivated me when I first read it, and it’s a title I keep returning to again and again because of its electric uncanniness, and its mercurial voice that is by turns contemplative and sardonic, nostalgic and acerbic, elegiac and vision-seeking. The title refers to a trilogy of Öijer’s books—While the Poison Acts, The Lost Word, and The Fog of Everything—that, as Johannes Göransson explains in his excellent introduction"

https://actionbooks.org/2026/06/stockroom-picks-presents-james-pate-curated-by-miharu-yano/

05/14/2026

A new installment of Stockroom Picks is now live! Today's featured guest is Leia Penina Wilson, author of CALL THE NECROMANCER (Action Books, 2026) and she has kindly recommended five of her favorite Action Books titles at the link below. Check 'em out!

Thanks to Action Books assistant editor Miharu Yano for curating!

I was very sick last fall! I’m less sick now and I’m thinking about pain, about being able or unable to work, how grotesque that thought is! I’m thinking about poems of wonder (awe-inspired fear/fear-inspired awe? + joyful astonishment of [...]

05/07/2026

"For 40 years, Zurita has been perhaps the most influential Latin American poet, relentlessly exploring the art and politics of the body and the body in landscape. The poems have made the particulars of his life -and his body – almost mythical, but the body and the landscape – scarred, wounded, physical – has disrupted any such easy reading. Instead Zurita has created his own visionary Chile like a stage for the wounded body to purge the modern world."

https://johannesgransson.substack.com/p/the-limitless-violence-of-beauty

05/01/2026

Happening at NYU Center for Humanities for Colloquy 21 on May 5th at 6pm est: Experimental Translation with Mónica de la Torre, Robert Fitterman, M.L. Martin. ⁠
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This event will feature iterative translation, English to English translation, and self-translation, among other genre-defying modes. We will ask what defines the act of translation, how can we expand this understanding, and where the lines exist between translation and "original" writing.

Learn more:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/colloquy-21-experimental-translation-tickets-1987074256592

04/09/2026

You're invited to SH*THOLES OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

NEXT WEEK at NOPF! Featuring poets from Action Books, Cardboard House Press, Carrion Bloom Books, —co•im•press—, Lavender Ink / Diálogos, Eulalia Books, World Poetry Books, and more!!!