Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, winner of the Fragonard Prize for foreign literature for her translation of the novel "Les Dévastés".

For its first edition, the Fragonard Prize for Foreign Literature 2022 has been awarded to Bulgarian writer Theodora Dimova for her novel Les Dévastés, published on January 6 by Editions des Syrtes. To support translated literature, the prize also rewards Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, professor of Bulgarian language and literature and literary translation at Inalco.

This brand-new prize created by Fragonard perfumery aims to give greater visibility to foreign women's literature, by supporting non-French-speaking (translated) authors and their translators. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros for the author and 2,000 euros for the translator. The jury for this first edition was made up of : Jakuta Alikavazovic, writer, Élise Boghossian, founder of the NGO Elise Care, Danielle Cillien Sabatier, bookseller, Mathias Énard, writer, Anna Mouglalis, actress, Alina Gurdiel, Agnès Costa and Charlotte Urbain.

Biography

Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, alumnus of ENS de Sèvres and agrégée de Lettres classiques, university professor of Bulgarian language and literature and literary translation theory at Inalco, head of Inalco's literary translation master's program, scientific director of Presses de l'Inalco, is the author of Bulgarian language textbooks, as well as numerous articles and books on the history of Bulgarian literature, the history of translation in Bulgaria and literary translation thought, including History of Translation in Medieval Europe (with Antoine Chalvin, Jean-Léon Muller and Katre Talviste), Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2019; Miroir de l'altérité : la traduction, ELLUG, 2006; Shakespeare a mal aux dents : que traduit-on quand on traduit (with Patrick Maurus), Presses de l'Inalco, 2018. She has edited collective works, such as Traduire la pluralité du texte littéraire (with Patrick Maurus and Mourad Yelles), L'Improviste, 2015.

She has translated several Bulgarian writers into French, both classical and contemporary (around 50 books: novels, collections of short stories, poems, plays), to whom she dedicates the website Writers of Bulgaria. She is also a co-translator of Persian.