Agnès Guitard Wins the John Glassco Prize

MONTREAL, October 2, 2001 - This year’s John Glassco Prize, awarded by the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada, went to Ms. Agnès Guitard, for her translation of Farley Mowat’s The Farfarers (Key Porters Book, 1998) into French. Entitled Les Hauturiers, this 400-page translation was published at the end of last year in Montreal by XYZ Éditeur.

Over 30 years, Farley Mowat has assembled literary and historical evidence that suggests a people he calls the Albans preceded the Norse to the High Arctic and the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts. This historical essay is interspersed with personal reminiscences and fiction narratives. The translator Agnès Guitard very deftly rendered all these voices into French.

The Prize was officially awarded on September 30, International Translation Day, during a literary evening held at Concordia University in Montreal. The members of the jury were Phyllis Aronoff, Myriam Jarsky and Richard Giguère. The jury also awarded an honourable mention to S. E. Stewart for her translation of Le soleil du lac qui se couche by Franco-Manitoban writer J. R. Léveillé (English title: The Setting Lake Sun, Signature Editions).

The John Glassco Prize is awarded annually, since 1982, to a first published book-length literary translation. The target language must be either English or French but source languages other than English or French are accepted. John Glassco, who gave his name to the Prize, was a well-known writer and translator who died in 1981. Among others, he translated Saint-Denys Garneau’s poetry and journal into English.