This year’s Eugen-Helmlé Translation Prize will be awarded to Holger Fock and Sabine Müller for their outstanding translations of French literature. Together they have translated a large number of modern French authors into German – among them Pierre Assouline, Catherine Breillat, Philippe Delerm, Philippe Grimbert, Andreï Makine, Diane Meur, Rachid Mimouni, Erik Orsenna, Cécile Wajsbrot, Elie Wiesel and, in particular, Mathias Énard and Antoine Volodine.
The members of the jury praise the precision and linguistic ease of their translations. ‘With a knowledge of the world so characteristic for translators, a remarkable stylistic confidence and sense of rhythm, Holger Fock and Sabine Müller create linguistic works of art of a density and a versatility equal to the originals. This is particularly true for their most recent translations of Zone by Mathias Énard and Mevlidos Träume by Antoine Volodine.’
The Eugen-Helmlé Translation Prize (with an award money of 10,000 Euro), is named after the translator Eugen Helmlé; it is awarded annually to translators of outstanding translations from French into German or from German into French. This year’s award ceremony will take place on 7 September in Sulzbach (Germany). More information can be found here (http://www NULL.premiumpresse NULL.de/eugen-helml-uebersetzerpreis-des-jahres-2011-geht-an-holger-fock-und-sabine-mueller-PR1310145 NULL.html).