I'm extremely pleased to announce that The Hunchback Assignments has won Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2011: Roman jeunesse étranger (The Grand Prize of the Imagination, Youth foreign). This is the most prestigious fantastical fiction award in France and it is proof that my novel's translator, Marie Cambolieu, is brilliant. The official award website is here if you want to see the other categories. The book is called Les agents de M. Socrate, Tome 1 : La confrérie de l'horloge in France and is released by Le Masque (loosely translated as The Agents of Mr. Socrates: The Brotherhood of the Clock). The award was presented at a festival in Saint-Malo, France. I nearly was able to attend in person, but had to stay home to watch the NHL Playoffs (I'm kidding, of course, great effort was made to fly me out there but the scheduling didn't work out). Instead I sent a short video of my acceptance speech:
The other award nominees in the same category were:
Roman jeunesse étranger
Autres titres retenus en première sélection :
Frankly, I didn't expect for my book to win. There are some very heavy hitters on that list (and I'm especially intrigued by Oisin McGann's Voraces. Irish steampunk!). But I'll take the prize and run (actually I don't know if there is a prize--the honour is enough). The book has been selling briskly in France, so this should help it sprint to the finish line.
If you'd like to see a few photos of the event just click here.
As you can tell, I'm very excited about this award. Last night, at dinner club, we raised a glass of French wine in honour of Grand Prix de l'imaginaire (and had Beef Wellington, which also fit the theme since Modo used the name Wellington as a code name).
Au revoir,
6 comments:
Awesomeness!
I saw your post on the Kindle Boards blog thread and had to stop by to offer my congratulations. That is fantastic! Wow! Sorry for all of the exclamation points, but this is really one to celebrate.
Cheers to you,
Karen
Move to Paris and relaunch your career. What a life that would be!
Thanks Karen and Jarvis! Yes a move to Paris would be quite the relaunch. Or would I just be eating like a glutton instead of writing! : )
Congratulations big time, Art! C'est an honneur tres magnifique! And a well-deserved honor for this terrific book, as well. : )
Cheers,
Elaine
Thanks Elaine...I appreciate the support. Oh, and the compliments for the book...of course!
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