The Romain Rolland Book Prize awards the best translation of a French title (francophone area) into any India language, including English and is an annual event. The prize aims at encouraging and awarding the efforts made by Indian publishers to bring the best of Francophone literature and thought, in all its diversity, to the Indian readership. It was launched during the Zee Jaipur Literary Festival in January 2018 and is supported by Priti Paul via Apeejay Trust.
This year, 7 titles were in the run for the shortlist and featured fiction and a comic series. Outside English titles, 1 Malayalam, 1 Tamil, 1 Bengali and 2 Hindi titles were represented.
Dr Bertrand de Hartingh, Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture, Embassy of France, and Director of the French Institute in India, spoke about the Romain Rolland Book Prize: "We are now in the third edition of the Romain Rolland Prize and we are so happy to see it flourish. Each time, we get more contributions from Indian languages outside English, and more genres get represented. With India being guest of honour at the Paris Book Fair in March, and with France is the guest of honour at the New Delhi World Book Fair in 2022, it is more than ever important to make accessible to each other the richness of our thoughts and literature through the difficult art of translation, and to celebrate those who make it possible.’
Shortlist 2020
The following four titles have been shortlisted:
- The first three albums of the Astérix series by Albert Uderzo, René Goscinny translated in Hindi by Dipa Chaudhuri & Puneet Gupta and published by Om Books International
- Chanson Douce by Leila Slimani translated in Bengali by Trinanjan Chakraborty and published by Patra Bharati
- Corps désirable by Hubert Haddad translated in Tamil by S.A. Vengada Soupraya Nayagar and published by Kalachuvadu Publications
- Malentendu à Moscou by Simone de Beauvoir translated in Malayalam by Prabha R Chattergy and published by Green Books
The winning publisher will be invited by the French Institute in India to the Paris Book Fair 2020 (Livre Paris 2020) where India will be the guest of honour country this year. The translator is offered one month of residency in France.
For this 3rd edition, the jury included Annie Montaut, Michèle Albaret-Maatsch, Renuka Georges, Nalini Thampi, Chinmoy Guha and Sindhuja Veeraragavan. The Indo-French jury takes into account the qualities of the translation and of the publication itself.
Calendar
The prize will be announced at Zee Jaipur Literature Festival / Jaipur BookMark on 23rd January by His Excellency Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain and presented by the French author Leila Slimani.
Link to pictures:
For its first edition, the award-winning title was Main Gumshuda by Patrick Modiano (the publisher was Pranav Johri, from Rajpal and Sons, the translation of Rue des boutiques obscures into Hindi was by Monica Singh. In 2019, the Prize went to La vie d’un homme inconnu, (The Life of an Unknown Man) by Andrei Makine, published in India by Kalachuvadu and translated into Tamil by S.R. Kichenamourty.
The Romain Rolland Prize is one of the actions of the French Institute in India in support of translations of French books in India. Another action includes the PAP (Publication Assistance Programme) Tagore. The French Institute in India also runs a special programme of training for translators.
Contact: comm@ifindia.in
011-30410000 or 9810434363
ABOUT THE FRENCH INSTITUTE IN INDIA
The French Institute in India (IFI) is the Education, Science and Culture service of the Embassy of France in India. It facilitates academic and scientific exchange between higher institutes of learning and research, enables student mobility, and promotes French language and artistic and cultural partnerships. Cooperation between India and France takes place through a number of sectors: Arts & Culture, Books & Ideas, French Language & Education, Study in France programme, Academic Partnerships, Science & Technology, as well as Innovation and Multimedia. To know more, visit www.ifindia.in
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