2023 Translation Prize Finalists

We are delighted to announce the 36th Annual Translation Prize finalists! Selected by a jury of literary professionals, the ten finalists include celebrated works by esteemed French authors, many of which are available to American readers for the first time.

Since 1986, the Translation Prize has honored exceptional English translations of French works of fiction and nonfiction. The Prize has established itself as a valuable element of the intellectual and cultural exchange between France and the United States, promoting French literature in the U.S. and providing translators and their craft with greater visibility among publishers and readers.

From the below fiction and nonfiction shortlists, a winning translator in each category will receive a $10,000 award generously funded by the Florence Gould Foundation. Winners will be announced in May 2023 and will be honored at an awards ceremony in late May.

FICTION

Alison Anderson’s translation of All Your Children, Scattered
by Beata Umybyeyi Mairesse (Europa Editions)

Charly Verstraet and Jeffrey Landon Allen’s co-translation of Crusoe’s Footprint
by Patrick Chamoiseau (University of Virginia Press)

Teresa Lavender Fagan’s translation of Marina Tsvetaeva: To Die in Yelabuga
by Vénus Khoury-Ghata (Seagull Books/The University of Chicago Press)

Juliet Sutcliffe’s translation of The Music Game
by Stéfanie Clermont (Biblioasis)

Gila Walker’s translation of Twilight of Torment: I. Melancholy
by Léonora Miano (Seagull Books/The University of Chicago Press)

NONFICTION

Christine Pichini’s translation of The Cinema House and the World: The Cahiers du Cinema Years, 1962–1981
by Serge Daney (Semiotext(e))

Alison Strayer’s translation of Getting Lost
by Annie Ernaux (Seven Stories Press)

David Wills’s translation of Perjury and Pardon, Volume I
by Jacques Derrida (The University of Chicago Press)

Catherine Porter’s translation of Rekindling Life: A Common Front
by Baptiste Morizot (Polity Books)

Kieran Aarons and Cédrine Michel’s co-translation of Self Defense: A Philosophy of Violence
by Elsa Dorlin (Verso Books)