The 2026 Aficionado Award goes to the global translation project Words Without Borders, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2003 by W. W. Norton Executive Editor Alane Mason and Spanish-to-English translator Samantha Schnee, who has been WWB’s board chair for the past decade, the digital magazine publishes international literature in English translation. It helps make literary voices from around the world more accessible, with a particular focus on Indigenous, endangered and otherwise overlooked languages. With this award, the international jury also recognises the central role that translators play in fostering international exchange and bringing literary voices from different linguistic communities to a wider audience.
The Aficionado Award honours individuals, organisations and initiatives that make a lasting difference to the publishing industry. Each year, a shortlist is presented to a professional audience at the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino in May. The recipient is then selected by an international publishing community, and the award is presented at Frankfurter Buchmesse. In 2026, Elisabeth Jaquette, Executive Director of Words Without Borders and Arabic-to-English translator, will accept the award on behalf of the entire team.
Aficionado Award: Panel Discussion and Awards Ceremony
When: Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 11:00 am
Where: Global Stage, Foyer 5.1/6.1
Featuring: Elisabeth Jaquette, Executive Director of Words Without Borders and Arabic-to-English translator; Erin Cox (moderator, Frankfurter Buchmesse), Tom Kraushaar (Klett-Cotta)
Jury Statement
Words Without Borders has spent over twenty years doing something simple but rare: making sure literature written outside English actually reaches readers who read in English. Its magazine introduced writers like Elena Ferrante, Olga Tokarczuk, and Jon Fosse long before they became household names, alongside hundreds of translators and authors working in indigenous, endangered, and otherwise overlooked languages. That commitment has never stayed confined to the page. This prize recognises an organisation that has quietly and consistently expanded, whose stories get told, and who gets to read them.
About the Aficionado Award
The international Aficionado Award is an initiative of Tom Kraushaar (Klett-Cotta, Germany), Michael Gaeb (Gaeb & Eggers Agency, Germany), Rebecca Servadio (London Literary Scouting, United Kingdom), Aleksi Siltala (Siltala Publishing, Finland), Camilla Cottafavi (Feltrinelli, Italy) and Claire Do Serro (Editions Planeta, France). It was founded in 2023 and is organised in cooperation with and with financial support from Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino.
The other nominees for the 2026 award were DC Books from India, a literary publisher with an extensive programme for the Indian market and a large bookshop chain in southern India, and Pogranicze from Poland. Since 1990, the publishing house and its affiliated “Borderland Foundation” have been committed to fostering coexistence among people of diverse cultural, ethnic, generational, and ideological backgrounds.
In 2025, the Aficionado Award went to Seagull Books from Kolkata, India.
https://www.buchmesse.de/en/fellowship-and-grant-programmes/aficionado-award
About Frankfurter Buchmesse
Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair and the most important international marketplace for content – from novels and children’s books to academic databases and stories for films, games and virtual reality experiences. Publishing professionals from around the world meet here with partners from the technology sector and from related creative and cultural industries, sparking new partnerships and business models. Since 1976, the book fair has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association). buchmesse.de/en
