The Sophie Castille Award For Comics In Translation – English Shortlist Announced

Awarded at the 2024 Lakes International Comic Art Festival (27-29 September), the Sophie Castille Award for Comics in Translation for English have just announced their shortlist…

The Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation are awarded for the best translation of graphic novels, with publishers around the world submitting books for consideration, with awards for English, Greek, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and Spanish/Catalan translations.

The awards were created in honour of Sophie Castille, international rights director and V. P. of licensing for Mediatoon and cofounder and director of Europe Comics, who died unexpectedly in 2022. She was one of the main drivers of Euro comics and bandes dessinées being translated, sharing the incredible works of Euro comics around the world.

This year’s Sophie Castille Award – English prize will be awarded at the Lakes International Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere over its Festival weekend, 27th – 29th September 2024.

The inaugural award was given to Michele Hutchison, for her translation of The Philosopher, The Dog and the Wedding by Barbara Stok, published in English by SelfMadeHero.

Now, the shortlist for the Sophie Castille Award – English 2024 has been announced – (in alphabetical order of translator): Je ne veux pas être maman (I Don’t Want to Be a Mom) by Irene Olmo, translated from French by Kendra Boileau, published by Graphic Mundi, an imprint of Penn State University Press; 沖合の雷 (Offshore Lightning) by Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese by Alexa Frank, published by Drawn & Quarterly; A la recherche de Gil Scott-Heron (In Search of Gil Scott-Heron) by Thomas Maucéri and Seb Piquet, translated from French by James Hogan, published by Titan Comics; L’Arc en cieliste (The Rainbow Catcher) by Cédric Mayen, Laura Lorio, and Ricci Roberto, translated from French by James Hogan, published by Europe Comics; Juliette: Les fantômes reviennent au printemps (Juliette: Or, the Ghosts Return in the Spring) by Camille Jourdy, translated from French by Aleshia Jensen, published by Drawn & Quarterly; La falaise (The Cliff) by Manon Debaye, translated from French by Montana Kane, published by Drawn & Quarterly; Freud: le moment venu (Through Clouds of Smoke: Freud’s Final Days) by Suzanne Leclaire and William Leroy, translated from French by Nanette McGuinness, published by Life Drawn Books, an imprint of Humanoids; and Dans la Tête de Sherlock Holmes (Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes) by Cyril Lieron and Benoit Dahan, translated from French by Christopher Pope, published by Titan Comics.

The UK jury again comprised of three judges: Associate Professor in the Nottingham School of Art & Design, writer and artist Carol Adlam; comic archivist, author, publisher and longstanding comics advocate Paul Gravett; and Gemma Sosnowsky, of Lancaster University.

Find out more about The Sophie Castille Awards here on the LICAF web site and at sophie-castille-awards.org.

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 27th – Sunday 29th September 2024.

Now, a little look at the shortlisted books, in order of translator…

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Je ne veux pas être maman (I Don’t Want to Be a Mom)
by Irene Olmo, translated from French by Kendra Boileau
Published by Graphic Mundi and imprint of Penn State University Press

A true story of liberation and self-empowerment in the face of societal prejudice, I Don’t Want to Be a Mom questions the imposition of motherhood on women as both an expectation and a path toward fulfilment. With an affecting mix of humour and introspection, Spaniard Irene Olmo describes the subtle and not-so-subtle ways she was pressured to have children and the feelings of isolation and self-doubt that ensued. Her delightful full-colour illustrations capture perfectly the maddeningly narrow-minded reactions of those around her, as well as her own discomfort and frustration.

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沖合の雷 (Offshore Lightning)
By Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese by Alexa Frank
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

A collection of assorted stories. Nazuna Saito began making comics late. She was in her forties when she submitted a story to a major Japanese publishing house and won an award for newcomers. She continued to work through the 1990s until she stopped drawing to take care of her ailing parents.

In her sixties, she took a job teaching drawing at Kyoto Seika University and became inspired by her talented students. When she returned to teaching, her storytelling interests had shifted. Before suffering a stroke she drew In Captivity (2012) and Solitary Death Building (2015) – both focused on aging and death. Offshore Lightning collects Saito’s early work as well as these two recent graphic novellas.

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A la recherche de Gil Scott-Heron (In Search of Gil Scott-Heron)
By Thomas Maucéri and Seb Piquet, translated French by James Hogan
Published by Titan Comics

Singer, poet and writer; considered to be the godfather of rap, Gil Scott-Heron is a myth and legend in the Afro-American music scene.

Through his personal experiences, Thomas Maucéri allows us to discover the life of this genius along with other aspects of America’s recent history.

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L’Arc en cieliste (The Rainbow Catcher)
By Cédric Mayen, Laura Lorio and Ricci Roberto, translated from French by James Hogan
Published digitally by Europe Comics

As the plague rages through England, Hayden Springworth is busy trying to find hidden treasure at the end of a rainbow. But an encounter with Isaac Newton will shatter the young lord’s antiquated beliefs. Sent to the southwest of France as a spy, Hayden continues his research on rainbows in secret.

That is, until he meets a strange young girl who seemingly has the power to bring rain with her wherever she goes…

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Juliette: Les fantômes reviennent au printemps (Juliette: Or, the Ghosts Return in the Spring)
By Camille Jourdy, translated from French by Aleshia Jensen
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

A vibrant tableau of small-town life as seen through the eyes of a woman returning home from Paris.

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La falaise (The Cliff)
By Manon Debaye, translated from French by Montana Kane
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. Not that navigating the unspoken pecking order of the school quad makes it easy. Can the intensity of their bond survive the scrutiny of their peers, or will it crumble under the sum of each other’s disappointments?

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Freud: le moment venu (Through Clouds of Smoke: Freud’s Final Days)
By Suzanne Leclaire and William Leroy, translated from French by Nanette McGuinness
Published by Life Drawn Books, an imprint of Humanoids

The ageing Sigmund Freud reflects upon the torments of age, the lung cancer he suffers due to his cigar addiction, and the rise of Nazism.

In 1923, Sigmund Freud, 67 years old and an inveterate cigar smoker, discovers that he has mouth cancer, a truth long hidden from him by doctors. Despite his diagnosis, Freud survived 15 more years, convinced the cigars that were slowly destroying him increased his productivity and gave him control over himself.

At the same time, a different sort of cancer was consuming Europe. In 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, annexing Freud’s home country of Austria five years later. His books burning upon fascist pyres and his peers concerned for his life, Freud had no choice but to leave Vienna for London, his final home…

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Dans la Tête de Sherlock Holmes (Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes)
By Cyril Lieron and Benoit Dahan, translated from French by Christopher Pope
Published by Titan Comics

An award-winning, and Eisner nominated, original graphic novel starring the world’s greatest detective: Sherlock Holmes! See into Sherlock’s mind like never before as Cyril Lieron depicts an intricate visual representation of his mind palace.