Ruth Diver was awarded the prize for her translation of The Convoy by Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse (Open Borders Press), from Le convoi (Flammarion, 2024). The runner-up is Frank Wynne for his translation of Sleeping Children by Anthony Passeron (Pan Macmillan, Picador), from Les Enfants endormis (Éditions Globe, 2022).
The shortlisted titles were:
- Chris Andrews for I Don’t Care by Ágota Kristóf (New Directions Publishing), from C’est égal (Éditions du Seuil, 2005)
- Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert for There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem (Bullaun Press), from Un monstre est là, derrière la porte (Gallimard, 2022)
- Mark Polizzotti for Command Performance by Jean Echenoz (New York Review Books Classics), from Vie de Gérard Fulmard (Les Éditions de Minuit, 2020)
The Scott Moncrieff Prize is an annual award for translations into English of full-length French works of literary merit and general interest. The winner is awarded £3,000 and the runner-up is awarded £1.000.
This year’s jury was composed of Clare Finburgh-Delijani, Adam Hamdy, and Shumona Sinha.
Adam Hamdy said: “Diver’s translation captures both the musical cadence and moral weight of the original. In her hands, each sentence breathes with tension and grace, conveying not just the horror of displacement but also the tenderness that persists in its wake. The result is a work of profound empathy and craftsmanship: a convoy of voices transported faithfully by writer and translator.”