Congratulations to the winners and honorable mentions for the 2025 Gulf Coast Prize in Translation, judged by Wendy Chen.
2025 Winner:
"Blond on the Escalator" by María José Bilbao (trans. Abby Melick)
Honorable Mentions:
“Maschalagnia” by Luis Carlos Barragán Castro (trans. isaac dwyer)
“The Pediatrician” by Andréa del Fuego (trans. Nina Perrotta)
Wendy Chen, on the winner:
María José Bilbao’s short stories are visceral explorations of the charged relationship women have to their bodies, as well as the electric friction produced between women’s bodies and others. In Bilbao’s dream-like landscapes, bodies escape into gaseous forms, veer towards danger, come alive through states of transformation. These translations captivate with their interpretation of Bilbao’s startling humor and bright wit, immersing us wholly in the provocative arguments of the work.
Abby Melick is a New York-based writer, translator, and educator. She received a BA in English from Princeton and an MFA in Creative Fiction and Translation from Columbia University, where she's currently a lecturer in the undergraduate University Writing program. Her Spanish translations have been published or are forthcoming in the Columbia Word for Word Anthology and the Yale Review. Her short stories have been published in Flash Fiction Magazine, Brink Literary Magazine, and Jabberwock Review.
Thank you to everyone who submitted to the 2025 Gulf Coast Prize in Translation! The winner will appear in the print edition of Gulf Coast 38.2.
