UND professor named long-list finalist for National Translation Award

Elizabeth Harris, associate professor of creative writing in the UND English Department, has been named one of 12 long-list finalists for the National Translation Award (NTA) for her 2014 translation of the story collection, This is the Garden, originally written in Italian by Giulio Mozzi. According to the award judges, Harris “has lyrically channeled the many voices of Giulio Mozzi,” calling her work “precisely crafted” and “perfectly suited” to the piece she translated. If she wins the NTA, which is presented by the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), Harris will receive $5,000 and be featured at the annual ALTA conference. Harris came to UND in 2004 from a position at Bluffton College in Ohio. At UND, she teaches fiction writing, literature and, occasionally, a course on literary translation. In 2013, Harris won the Translation Prize from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Culture, along with the PEN/Heim Translation Fund Award from the PEN American Center in New York. She has also held a Banff International Centre Translation Residency in Banff, Canada. Throughout her career, Harris has translated or is in the process of translating four books, and has more than 30 published translations of stories, novel excerpts and commentaries on translation. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Harris went on to earn a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University, as well as two master of fine arts degrees from the University of Arkansas — one in creative writing and the other in literary translation