2024 Sophie Castille Awards: Comics in Translation – English Shortlist Announced
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, in partnership with Comica and VIP Brands, is thrilled to reveal the shortlist for the 2024 Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – English.
The Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation are for the best translation of graphic novels into various languages. Publishers from around the world again submitted a wide variety of comic stories translated into English for consideration, and deciding the final shortlist was no easy task.
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.
Shortlisted Comics (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 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.
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 ageing and death. Offshore Lightning collects Saito's early work as well as these two recent graphic novellas.
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.
Les Vies de Charlie ("The Many Lives of Charlie")
By Kid Toussaint
Translated from French by Anna Howell
Published digitally by Europe Comics
What happens to our loved ones when they die? No more funerals, now we recycle!
In an exuberant and swarming big city, Charlie, an employee at Eternal Recycle, is the best in his field: finding a use for your body after you die. But one day, a boy calls and asks him what has happened to his mother's soul. Charlie is used to handling the bodies, but who takes care of the souls? To answer that question, he sets out on an investigation into the very heart of death and love.
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.
La falaise ("The Cliff")
By Manon Debaye
Translated from French by Montana Kane
Published by Titan Comics
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?
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
ISBN: 978-1643376011
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 FrFreud'some 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…
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 ShSherlock'sind like never before as Cyril Lieron depicts an intricate visual representation of his mind palace…
Sophie Castille Award – English
Launched last year, the Sophie Castille Award – English is an award for the best translation of a non-English graphic novel into English, a project initiated by VIP Brands Ltd., in partnership with Comica and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Michele Hutchison was announced as the winner of the inaugural Awards, for her translation of The Philosopher, The Dog and the Wedding by Barbara Stok, published in English by SelfMadeHero.
These awards have been created in honour of Sophie Castille, international rights director and V. P. of licensing for Mediatoon, cofounder and director of Europe Comics, who died unexpectedly in 2022. Since the late 1990s, Sophie built bridges for bandes dessinées and their authors, from France and around the world. She was a constant source of creativity, motivating publishers across the globe and encouraging them to exchange ideas. As a result, she became a key figure in the growth of the translation of comics and graphic novels around the world.
The goal is to have these awards in as many countries in the world as possible. Since the Award was launched in the UK last year, other countries have launched their own iterations. Most recently, in Spain, Comic Barcelona announced their nominees for the SCA. You can read their announcement here. For Italy, Napoli Comicon will announce the winner of their awards later this month. You can read their announcement here. In Poland, the Lodz Comics Festival will host their inaugural awards at their annual event in early September, and an awards programme will also be announced soon for publishers in Slovenia, in partnership with Tinta Festival Slovenia.
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.
Comics and graphic novels, considered in France as The Ninth Art, are a diverse and dynamic international medium that are growing in popularity every year and are loved the world over. Spreading these works internationally through translation is a way to bring the world together.
With comics in translation becoming an important influence in the publishing world, VIP Brands Ltd, Comica and LICAF have decided to honour SoSophie'semory and continue her work to promote comics in translation around the world with these new Awards.
"The Sophie Castille Awards are global awards to recognise the work of translators in the medium," explains Ivanka Hahnenberger, General Manager of VIP Brands and founder of the Sophie Castille Awards, "as well as to highlight the importance of the work of translation in the world of comics, recognising the skill and dedication of those who contribute significantly to the dissemination and understanding of comics around the world which was very important to Sophie Castille. We are very proud to have 6 countries onboard through six organisations that are very important to the world of local and international comics."
"We're delighted to again be hosting the awards ceremony for the Sophie Castille Award – English prize," says Festival Director Julie Tait. "Alongside the launch of the International Rights Market at the Festival, a project also supported by VIP Brands, this will be another good reason for comic creators and publishers to come to Bowness next month!"
