Young translators win Estonian Writers’ Union competition

The Estonian Writers’ Union’s ninth young translators’ competition received 70 entries, with poetry translated for the first time. The winners have been announced, ERR reported.

Entries came from four languages: 34 from English, 15 from Japanese, 11 from German and 10 from Spanish. Participants translated James Appleby’s poetry cycle “Spurious Language” (2015), Benedict Wells’ short story “Die Nacht der Bücher” (2018), an excerpt from Munir Hachemi’s “La Comuna” (2025), and Murata Sayaka’s short story “Pochi” (2019).

In the English-to-Estonian category, Elo Kaalep, Meribel Leppik and Heike Olmre shared first place. Tormi Ariva, Regina Makko and Kristel Veske shared second place. The jury also highlighted work by Hanna Stiina Kangur, Maria Elisabeth Leemet, Timofei Mihhailov, Karmen-Eliise Märtens, Miriam Elisabet Ööbik and Birgit Ületoa.

In the German-to-Estonian category, Peeter Samoldin took second place, while Elo Kaalep, Mai-Liis Kombe and Jaagup Randi shared third. No first-place winner was named in the announcement.

Nette Junkur won the Spanish-to-Estonian category, followed by Mihkel Ots in second place and Marleen Meister in third. In the Japanese-to-Estonian category, Emeli Pikner and Ines Safjanova shared first place, while Oskar Joonas Rundu and Jan Kalevi Sihvola shared second.

The competition also provides participants with individual feedback. Juries gave written comments to many entrants, and feedback seminars were held. The training programme continues on November 6 with a day of artificial intelligence study.

The competition was held in cooperation with Värske Rõhk magazine, which will publish a selection of the strongest entries. Judges said the poetry translation challenge drew more participants than expected, with 34 entrants taking part in the English-to-Estonian section.