The Albertine Prize is unique in that the winner is chosen by you! This prize for a work of contemporary Francophone fiction in English translation honors a book that has found favor with an American readership – hence the public voting. This year’s shortlist was selected by Lydia Davis and French literary critic François Busnel, working together with the Albertine staff and the Book Department at the Cultural Services of the French embassy. Readers are encouraged to check out the shortlist and then vote for their favorites before May 1, 2018. The winner of the Albertine Prize will be announced at an award ceremony on June 6. The Prize comes with a $10,000 purse that according to the website “will be split between the author and translator of the winning title”; I hope that means a 50/50 split this year, since the prize is going to a translated book. (The split last year was 80/20.) To vote, visit the Albertine website. But first, check out this lovely list of finalists!
- Incest by Christine Angot, translated by Tess Lewis
- Compass by Mathias Enard, translated by Charlotte Mandell
- Not One Day by Anne Garreta, translated by Emma Ramadan
- The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis, translated by Michael Lucey
- Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou translated by Helen Stevenson
More information on all these books is available on the Albertine website. Congratulations and best of luck to all the shortlisted translators, and to the rest of us: happy voting!