The Literary Translators’ Association of Canada is proud to announce the three finalists for the 35th John Glassco Literary Translation Prize. The selected candidates published their first book-length translations into French or English between July 1st, 2018 and June 30th, 2019.

The three finalists are:

  • Jonathan Lamy from Montréal (Québec), for Pour l’amour du multilinguisme (Mémoire d’encrier) his translation of Tomson Highway’s A Tale of Monstrous Extravagance: Imagining Multilingualism.
  • Rémi Labrecque from Regina (Saskatchewan) for Mes souliers me font mourir (Les Éditions du Noroît), his translation of My Shoes Are Killing Me, a collection of poems by Robyn Sarah
  • Guil Lefebvre from Québec City (Québec), for In Every Wave (QC Fiction), his translation of Marée montante, by Charles Quimper.

Each finalist will receive a one-year membership to LTAC and the winner will be awarded a prize of $1,000.

Peter Feldstein chaired a selection committee of Phyllis Aronoff, Renée Von Paschen, and Sauline Letendre, distinguished literary translators and full members of the association. The jury considered thirteen eligible submissions, including works of non-fiction, novels, and poetry collections, translated from French into English, and from English into French.

LTAC will award the prize to the winner at our annual John Glassco Gala on Saturday, September 21st at the Maison des Jeunesses musicales du Canada (305 Mount-Royal East, Montreal). The gala’s master of ceremonies will be multi-talented artist Catherine Ego, and she will be accompanied by guitarist and composer Arturo Parra. We shall also take the opportunity to honour our members’ accomplishments in 2018-2019, and to celebrate Canadian literary translators who have excelled at the national and international level over the past year. The event, which will run from 6 pm to 9 pm, is free of charge and is open to the public.

About the John Glassco Translation Prize
The John Glassco Translation Prize has been awarded by LTAC since 1982 in celebration of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators. The prize is named after John Glassco, a well-known writer and translator whose works include the English translation of the journals and complete poems of Saint-Denys Garneau. The prize is bestowed on a translator whose first book-length translation in French or English (novel, short story, poetry, essay, children’s literature, play) stands out for its literary merits and precision. Over thirty translators, many of whom are still very active in the field, have been awarded the prize over the years. The complete list of winners can be found here.