On Friday, His Excellency Mr Alexandre Ziegler, the French Ambassador to India announced the winners of the Romain Rolland Prize. The award is for the best translations of French fiction and essays into Indian languages. The prize was awarded to SR Kichenamourty for his translation of La vie d’un homme inconnu (The Life of an Unknown Man) by Andrei Makine, published in France by Editions du Seuil, in India by Kalachuvadu.
Mr Alexandre Ziegler revealed that India will be the chief guest at the prestigious Paris Book Fair in 2020. France on the other hand will be main focus of the Delhi Book Fair in 2022.
Questions about the Rafale deal were brushed aside courteously, the Ambassador stating that he was here to talk about books not politics.
The winner was picked by a collection of jurors and the Ambassador expressed his happiness that French works were being translated into languages other than Hindi saying the jurors received entries in various other languages including Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali.
The jury comprised of Namita Gokhale, Annie Montaut, Michèle Albaret-Maatsch, Renuka George, Chinmoy Guha, and Narayani Harigovindan.
Dr Bertrand de Hartingh, Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture, French Embassy in India, revealed the names of the shortlisted titles at Oxford Bookstore Connaught Place on 6th January 2019.
Established by the French Institute in India, the prize is supported by Priti Paul via the Apeejay Trust.
