The Florence Gould Foundation and the French-American Foundation recently announced the finalists for this, the 24th annual, French Translation Prizes. Winners will be announced in May at a swanky event, and they’ll each receive $10,000.

You can find more details about the history of the prize, etc., by clicking here, but here’s the bit you’re probably more interested in:

Finalists for Fiction

• Mitzi Angel for 03 by Jean-Christophe Valtat (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

• Alexander Hertich for Dying by René Belletto (Dalkey Archive Press)

• Anna Moschovakis for The Jokers by Albert Cossery (New York Review of Books)

• Lydia Davis for Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Viking/Penguin Group)

• Alison Anderson for A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé (Europa Editions)
  
  

Finalists for Non-Fiction

• David Fernbach for The Invention of Paris: A History in Footsteps by Eric Hazan (Verso Books)

• Frederick Brown for Letters from America by Alexis de Tocqueville (Yale University
  Press)

• Donald Nicholson-Smith for Letters to Madeleine by Guillaume Apollinaire (Seagull
  Books)

• Jane Marie Todd for Reading and Writing in Babylon by Dominique Charpin (Harvard University Press)

• A. Kaiser for A Wall in Palestine by René Backmann (Picador)

Jurors for this year’s competition include Linda Asher, David Bellos, Antoine Compagnon, Linda Coverdale, Jeannette Seaver and Lily Tuck.

Congrats to everyone, and it’s really cool to see Anna Moschovakis on here for the BTBA finalist, The Jokers.

I usually avoid whinging about any of these awards (because yes, I know how hard, etc.), but I’m a bit stunned that Charlotte Mandell isn’t on here for Zone. Not that I know whose place she would take, but damn, Zone is an intense undertaking and Charlotte pulled it off in, um, award winning fashion.

I just received an invitation to the award ceremony for the French-American Foundation & Florence Gould Foundation Annual Translation Prizes, and since I think I missed the announcement of the finalists, I thought I’d take this chance to congratulate all ten translators being honored.

Fiction:

John Cullen for Brodeck by Philippe Claudel (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)

C. Dickson for Desert by J.M.G. Le Clezio (David R. Godine Publishing)

Richard Howard for Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant (New York Review Books)

Charlotte Mandell for The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (HarperCollins)

Richard Sieburth for The Salt Smugglers by Gerard de Nerval (Archipelago Books)

Nonfiction:

Beverley Bie Brahic for This Incredible Need to Believe by Julia Kristeva (Columbia University Press)

M.B. DeBevoise for Manichaeism by Michel Tardieu (University of Illinois Press)

Jody Gladding for On the Death and Life of Languages by Claude Hagege (Yale University Press/Odile Jacob)

George Holoch for Orphans of the Republic by Olivier Wieviorka (Harvard University Press)

Loic Wacquant for Prisons of Poverty by Loic Wacquant (University of Minnesota Press)

Great list of translators/books/publishers . . .

The prizes will be given out on Thursday, September 16th at a special event at the Gallery at the Century Association. For more information about the awards (and how to attend the ceremony/reception—which is always quite stunning) contact Sierra Schaller at sschaller [at] frenchamerican [dot] org.

I believe I posted about this a few weeks ago, but with the deadline coming up quick, it’s worth mentioning again:

The Florence Gould Foundation and the French-American Foundation are currently accepting submissions for their Annual Translation Prizes.

This year the foundation will present a $10 000 cash award for the best English translation of French in both fiction and non-fiction.

Translations for consideration must have been published for the first time in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2009 and must be submitted, accompanied by the French original work by December 31, 2009 (one French copy and one English copy).

All categories of work are eligible in fiction and nonfiction, with the exception of poetry, technical, scientific and reference works, and children’s literature. The prizes will be announced and presented in the spring of 2010.

All submissions should be sent to:

The French-American Foundation
Translation Prizes
28 West 44th Street, Suite 1420
New York, New York 10036

Each submission must be sent with the corresponding submission form. This form should include required contact information for both French and American publishers (editorial and publicity departments) and for the translator.

Submissions will not be considered without duly filled submission form. For inquiries, please contact:

Emma Archer, Director: earcher [at] frenchamerican.org.

Just received this reminder from Emma Archer:

The Florence Gould Foundation and the French-American Foundation are currently accepting submissions for their Annual Translation Prizes.

DEADLINE: DECEMBER 31, 2009

This year the foundation will present a $10 000 cash award for the best English translation of French in both fiction and non-fiction.

Translations for consideration must have been published for the first time in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2009 and must be submitted, accompanied by the French original work by December 31, 2009 (one French copy and one English copy).

All categories of work are eligible in fiction and nonfiction, with the exception of technical, scientific and reference works, and children’s literature. The prizes will be announced and presented in the spring of 2010.

All submissions should be sent to:

The French-American Foundation
Translation Prizes
28 West 44th Street, Suite 1420
New York, New York 10036

Each submission must be sent with the corresponding submission form.This form should include required contact information for both French and American publishers (editorial and publicity departments) and for the translator.

Submissions will not be considered without duly filled submission form.

For inquiries, please contact earcher [at] frenchamerican [dot] org.

Last night the French-American Foundation and Gould Foundation held their annual translation prize ceremony, honoring Jody Gladding & Elizabeth Deshays in the fiction category for their translation of Small Lives by Pierre Michon (Archipelago) and Matthew Cobb & Malcolm Debevoise in nonfiction for their translation of Life Explained by Michel Morange (Yale University Press)

As Thomas Bishop pointed out in his opening remarks, it’s interesting that both winners were translated by a pair of translators. Not that this is necessarily good or bad, just interesting. He also gave a shout out to American university presses as one of the admirable publishing segments of the book business trying to do a lot of literature in translation.

Of the finalists for the nonfiction category, four of the five titles were published by university presses (the exception being Camus’s Notebooks that came out from Ivan R. Dee). The fiction category had a different make-up, but three of the six finalists were from independent presses (Archipelago, Europa Editions, and New York Review Books).

The event—which took place at the Century Association—was very well attended (standing room only!), filled with all the editors, agents, translators, and other cultural peoples involved in international lit. (Especially French literature. One of the cool things the FAF did, which I’ve never seen before, is hand out a printed list of all RSVPs, so attendees could see who else was supposedly there and seek them out . . . Actually sort of helpful for a reception of this sort, where you’re only one or two connections away from everyone else . . .

Last night the French-American Foundation and Gould Foundation held their annual translation prize ceremony, honoring Jody Gladding & Elizabeth Deshays in the fiction category for their translation of Small Lives by Pierre Michon (Archipelago) and Matthew Cobb & Malcolm Debevoise in nonfiction for their translation of Life Explained by Michel Morange (Yale University Press)

As Thomas Bishop pointed out in his opening remarks, it’s interesting that both winners were translated by a pair of translators. Not that this is necessarily good or bad, just interesting. He also gave a shout out to American university presses as one of the admirable publishing segments of the book business trying to do a lot of literature in translation.

Of the finalists for the nonfiction category, four of the five titles were published by university presses (the exception being Camus’s Notebooks that came out from Ivan R. Dee). The fiction category had a different make-up, but three of the six finalists were from independent presses (Archipelago, Europa Editions, and New York Review Books).

The event—which took place at the Century Association—was very well attended (standing room only!), filled with all the editors, agents, translators, and other cultural peoples involved in international lit. (Especially French literature. One of the cool things the FAF did, which I’ve never seen before, is hand out a printed list of all RSVPs, so attendees could see who else was supposedly there and seek them out . . . Actually sort of helpful for a reception of this sort, where you’re only one or two connections away from everyone else . . .

I mentioned this just before I left for BEA, but last Wednesday the French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation hosted the Twenty-First Annual Translation Prize ceremony in New York.

This Prize is for the best fiction and nonfiction translations from French into English over the past year and comes with a $10,000 case award. The shortlist was loaded with great books and translators, all of whom were incredibly deserving.

In the end though, the winners were Linda Coverdale for her translation of Jean Echenoz’s Ravel, and Linda Asher for her translation of Milan Kundera’s The Curtain. Congratulations to both Lindas!

I’m sure this has been written about already, but I just received the invitation to the 21st Annual Translation Prize ceremony sponsored by the French-American Foundation and Florence Gould Foundation.

Every year these two foundations give out a prize to the best fiction and non-fiction translations from French into English. Here are this year’s finalists:

Fiction:

• Allah Is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma, translated by Frank Wynne;

• Kick the Animal Out by Veronique Ovalde, translated by Adriana Hunter

• Place Names by Jean Ricardou, translated by Jordan Stump;

• Ravel by Jean Echenoz, translated by Linda Coverdale;

• Solea by Jean-Claude Izzo, translated by Howard Curtis.

Non-fiction:

• The Curtain by Milan Kundera, translated by Linda Asher;

• Divagations by Stephane Mallarme, translated by Barbara Johnson;

• How to Talk about Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard, translated by Jeffrey Mehiman;

• Life Laid Bare by Jean Hatzfeld, translated by Linda Coverdale;

• A Voice from Elsewhere by Maurice Blanchot, translated by Charlotte Mandell.

All are worthy titles, although I’m pulling for Ravel and Life Laid Bare so that Linda Coverdale can walk away with a dual victory . . .

Winners receive a cash prize of $10,000 each, and in case you’re interested, the ceremony takes place Wednesday, May 28—the day before the start of BookExpo America.