FRENCH AUTHOR Alice Zeniter and Irish translator Frank Wynne have been announced today as winners of the 2022 Dublin Literary Award, for the novel The Art of Losing.
Zeniter will receive €75,000, while Wynne will receive €25,000, which is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English.
Frank was a previous winner in 2002, as translator of Atomised by Michel Houellebecq. The Art of Losing is the tenth novel in translation to win the Dublin Literary Prize.
The winning title was announced today at a special event, at International Literature Festival Dublin, which runs until 29 May.
Accepting her award, winner Alice Zeniter said:
“When I was writing the Art of Losing, I was almost certain that it was a niche novel. This book’s life, even five years after its release, keeps surprising me.
"I am really happy and thrilled that the Dublin Literary Award shows me today that this story can be shared with readers from different countries, readers who grew up outside the French post-colonial Empire. Readers that, maybe, had never thought about Algeria before opening the book. How crazy is that?”
Alice Zeniter and Frank Wynne have both been presented with cheques for The Art of Losing. €75,000 for Alice and €25,000 to Frank for translation from the French! #felicitations pic.twitter.com/Zxn85Qksxk
— DUBLIN Literary Award (@DublinLitAward) May 23, 2022
Translator Frank Wynne said he owes his career as a literary translator to the Dublin Literary Award, "a prize I cherish because it makes no distinction between English and translated fictions, treating authors and translators as co-weavers of the endless braid of literature."
Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award, Alison Gilliland made the announcement and Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council (the award's sponsor), presented the prizes to Alice and Frank at the International Literature Festival Dublin Literary Village in Merrion Square Park.
"With its themes of colonisation and immigration, The Art of Losing, which follows three generations of an Algerian family from the 1950s to the present day, highlights how literature can increase our understanding of the world," Gilliland said.
"I’d like to congratulate Alice Zeniter and Frank Wynne and thank all who are involved in the award – writers, translators, librarians, publishers and the administrative staff of Dublin City Council."
The award receives its nominations from public libraries in cities around the globe and recognises both writers and translators.
Both Zeniter and Wynne will appear at ILFDublin for an in-depth conversations with Michael Cronin, Professor of French and Director of the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Trinity College Dublin this evening 23 May at 6pm in Merrion Square Park.
To book to attend in person or online, visit www.ilfdublin.com
