The Literary Translators’ Association of Canada (LTAC) is delighted to announce the three finalists for the 36th John Glassco Translation Prize. The selected candidates published their first book-length translations into French or English between July 1st, 2019 and June 30th, 2020.

The three finalists are:

  • Gabriel Kunst from Montreal (Quebec), for Par ici la sortie (Éditions Hashtag), his translation of Montreal poet Carmine Starnino’s This Way Out.
  • Louis Hamelin from Grand-Mère (Quebec), for Les étés de l’ourse (Les Éditions du Boreal), his translation of The Curve of Time, Muriel Wylie Blanchet’s famous travel memoirs;
  • Arthur Holden from Montreal (Quebec), for Never Forget (Dundurn Press), his French to English translation of Martin Michaud’s bestselling thriller Je me souviens.

This year’s jury was composed of Peter Feldstein (Chair), Catherine Ego, Benoit Léger, and Mark Stout, professional literary translators and full members of LTAC. In total, eight non-fiction books, novels, short stories, graphic novels, and poetry collections translated from French into English, from English into French were considered by the members of the jury.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, December 9th at 7pm EST during a virtual gala that will premiere on our Facebook page. The three finalists will receive a one-year membership with the LTAC and the winner will be awarded a cheque for $1,000. The LTAC will also celebrate two new honorary members, Charlotte Melançon and Jane Brierley, and will recognize the Canadian literary translators who have excelled on a national and international level over the past year. Musician Thomas Hellman will provide a musical interlude and will discuss the influence of translation in his work with Sonya Malaborza. The event is free of charge and all are welcome to tune in.

The finalists’ bios:

Gabriel Kunst is a poet, PhD candidate, literary translator, and singer-songwriter based in Montreal. He is the author of Les cœurs de pomme et leur syntaxe (Triptyque, 2019) and his French translation of Carmine Starnino’s This Way Out was published earlier this year (Hashtag, 2020). His poems in English, French and German have appeared in different journals in the UK, Canada, and France. He is also coeditor of PØST-, an online poetry journal.

Né à Grand-Mère en 1959, Louis Hamelin a remporté le Prix du Gouverneur général pour son premier roman, La Rage, en 1989. Il a ensuite fait paraître de nombreux recueils de nouvelles et romans, dont La Constellation du Lynx (Boréal, 2010), qui a reçu le Prix des libraires du Québec et le Prix littéraire des collégiens. En 2020, il publie son neuvième roman, Les Crépuscules de la Yellowstone, et lance une collection de nature writing au Boréal, « L’œil américain », dont il traduit l’un des titres, Les Étés de l’ourse. Il est également chroniqueur au quotidien Le Devoir.

Arthur Holden is an actor and playwright. After adapting numerous French-language scripts for English television, he got his first chance to undertake a literary translation when Martin Michaud and Dundurn Press honoured him with the task of translating Michaud’s bestselling thriller Je me souviens. Arthur lives in Montreal with his wife, novelist Claire Holden Rothman, who won the John Glassco Prize in 1994.