Finalists of 21st Annual Translation Prizes

New York, NY (May 5, 2008) – The French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation announce today the finalists for their 21st Annual Translation Prizes for superior English translations of French works published in 2007. There will be one award for translation in fiction, and a second for non-fiction.

The FICTION finalists are:

Allah Is Not Obliged
Ahmadou Kourouma
Translated by Frank Wynne
Anchor Books
Random House

Kick the Animal Out
Véronique Ovaldé
Translated by Adriana Hunter
MacAdam Cage

Place Names
Jean Ricardou
Translated by Jordan Stump
Dalkey Archive Press

Ravel
Jean Echenoz
Translated by Linda Coverdale
The New Press

Solea
Jean-Claude Izzo
Translated by Howard Curtis
Europa Editions

The NON-FICTION finalists are:

The Curtain
Milan Kundera
Translated by Linda Asher
HarperCollins

Divagations
Stéphane Mallarmé
Translated by Barbara Johnson
Harvard University Press

A Voice from Elsewhere
Maurice Blanchot
Translated by Charlotte Mandell
State University of New York Press

How to Talk about Books
You Haven’t Read
Pierre Bayard
Translated by Jeffrey Mehlman
Bloomsbury USA

Life Laid Bare
Jean Hatzfeld
Translated by Linda Coverdale
Other Press

Winners of the fiction and non-fiction prizes will receive a cash prize of $10,000 each, funded by the Florence Gould Foundation. They will be honored at a special ceremony on May 28 in New York.

“We are proud to carry on this tradition for more than 20 years now with our partner the Florence Gould Foundation,” said French-American Foundation Director, Emma Archer. “We work together to draw public attention to the best new translations and to encourage the American publishers who bring significant French texts to the English reading audience.”

Jurors for this year’s competition in the Non Fiction category include Tom Bishop, Antoine Compagnon, Richard Howard and Lily Tuck. Jurors in the Fiction category include Tom Bishop, Antoine Compagnon, Richard Howard, Linda Asher, and Lily Tuck.

About The French-American Foundation
The French-American Foundation is the principal non-governmental link between France and the United States at leadership levels and across the full range of the French-American relationship.

About The Florence Gould Foundation
The Florence Gould Foundation is an American foundation devoted to French-American exchange and friendship. Born of French parents in San Francisco in 1895, Florence Gould lived both in the United States and France during her lifetime. At her death in 1993, Florence Gould left the bulk of her fortune to the foundation bearing her name.

PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE FLORENCE GOULD FOUNDATION AND FRENCH-AMERICAN FOUNDATION TRANSLATION PRIZES

2006 Sandra Smith for Suite Française by Irène Némirovski’s (Alfred A. Knopf), Bruce Fink for his translation of Ecrits by Jacques Lacan (WW. Norton).

2005 Daniel Weissbort for Missing Person, a translation of Patrick Modiano’s Rue des boutiques obscures (David Godine Publishers), Sharon Bowman for The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, a translation of Philippe Roger’s L’Ennemi Américain: Généalogie de l’antiaméricanisme français (University of Chicago Press).

2004 Helen Marx for Silbermann, a translation of Jacques de Lacretelle’s Silbermann (Helen Marx Books),
Arthur Goldhammer for Democracy in America, a translation of Alexis de Tocqueville’s De la démocratie
en Amérique (The Library of America).

2003 Lydia Davis for Swann’s Way, a translation of Marcel Proust Du coté de chez Swann (Viking Press), Janet Lloyd for The Writing of Orpheus, a translation of Marcel Detiènne’s L’écriture d’Orphée (Johns Hopkins University Press).

2002 Jeff Fort for Aminadab, a translation of Maurice Blanchot’s Aminadab (University of Nebraska Press), James Hogarth for The Toilers of the Sea, a translation of Victor Hugo’s Les travailleurs de la mer (Modern Library), and Anthony Roberts for Jihad, a translation of Gilles Kepel Jihad, (Harvard University Press).

2001 Jordan Stump for The Jardin des Plantes, a translation of Claude Simon’s Le Jardin des Plantes (Northwestern University Press)

2000 Linda Asher for The Case of Dr. Sachs, a translation of Martin Winckler’s La maladie de Sachs (Seven Stories Press)

1999 Richard Howard for The Charterhouse of Parma, a translation of Stendhal’s La chartreuse de Parme (Random House)

1998 Madeleine Velguth for Children of Clay, a translation of Raymond Queneau’s Les enfants du limon (Sun & Moon Press)

1997 Linda Coverdale for Literature or Life, a translation of Jorge Semprun’s L’écriture ou la vie (Viking Penguin) and Barbara Wright for Here, a translation of Nathalie Sarraute’s Ici (George Braziller)

1996 Arthur Goldhammer for Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past, vol.1, a translation of Pierre Nora’s Les lieux de mémoire (Columbia University Press)

1994 Joachim Neugroschel for With Downcast Eyes, a translation of Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Les yeux baissés (Little Brown & Co.)

1993 Nina Rootes for Sky Memoirs, a translation of Blaise Cendrars’ Lotissement du ciel (Paragon House)

1992 Lydia Davis for Rules of the Game I: Scratches, a translation of Michel Leiris’ La règle du jeu: biffures (Paragon House)

1991 Burton Raffel for Gargantua and Pantagruel, a translation of François Rabelais’ Gargantua et Pantagruel (W.W. Norton & Company)

1990 Arthur Goldhammer for A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, a translation of François Furet and Mona Ozouf’s Dictionnaire critique de la Révolution Française (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)

1989 Franklin Philip for The Statue Within, a translation of François Jacob’s La statue intérieure (Basic Books)

1988 David Bellos for Life, a User’s Manual, a translation of Georges Perec’s La vie, mode d’emploi (David Godine Publishers)

1987 Richard Howard for William Marshal, the Flowering of Chivalry, a translation of Georges Duby’s Guillaume le Maréchal (Pantheon Books)

1986 Barbara Bray for The Writing of Stones, a translation of Roger Callois’ L’écriture des pierres (University of Virginia Press)