Albertine Prize Needs Your Help!

Calling all American Francophiles: the Albertine Prize needs your vote! Organized by the Fifth Avenue bookstore, Albertine, and co-presented by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels  and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the award recognizes American readers' favorite French-language fiction titles translated into English and distributed in the U.S. within the preceding calendar year.                                                                                                                     

This year's nominees are winnowed to five titles covering a range of perspectives and narrative styles; UCLA professor Alain Mabanckou's Black Moses (Petit Piment, 2015) follows a Congoloese boy who escapes a terrifying orphanage and is raised by thieves in Pointe-Noire, and Christine Angot's controversial story about molestation, Incest (Inceste, 1999) also makes the shortlist. 

                                                                                                                                                                The Albertine Prize selection committee includes author and translator Lydia Davis, French literary critic and La Grande Librairie host François Busnel, and the staff at the Albertine bookstore in New York City. 

                                                                                                                                                               Not sure which book to vote for? Albertine will host a springtime Book Battle, where five critics and professors will defend their favorite title.

Anyone can vote, just follow the link here. Ballots close May 1, 2018, with an awards ceremony on June 6. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize, to be split between author and translator. Bonne lecture! 

                                                                                                                                                           Image credit: Joe David