Célina by Catherine Axelrad (tr. Philip Terry) shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2025

We are thrilled to see Célina on the shortlist of the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2025, alongside four other books which, to borrow the phrasing of the Republic of Consciousness announcement, are all in their diverse ways “highlighting the extraordinary work of small presses in the UK and Ireland”.

The judges said of Célina: “A quiet book, written with great integrity. It tells the story of a young woman, born into poverty, who works as a maid in the household of Victor Hugo. In restrained and unsentimental prose it illuminates lives forgotten by history.”

The publishing houses shortlisted, as well as Les Fugitives, are Bullaun Press, CB Editions, Divided Publishing and Peninsula Press. For all the information on the shortlisted books, see the Republic of Consciousness announcement on Substack.

The winner announcement will be held at Foyles Charing Cross on Tuesday 1 April at 7pm, and we hope to see many of you there. Tickets and more information are available from the Foyles website.

Célina by Catherine Axelrad, trans. Philip Terry, longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses 2025

We are delighted to see Catherine Axelrad’s novella of historical fiction Célina, translated by Philip Terry, featured in the longlist of the Republic of Consciousness Prize this year, alongside nine other brilliant works of fiction and non-fiction, including two other works in translation from French.

About Célina, this year’s judges Alice Jolly, Houman Barekat, and Jude Cook said:

“A QUIET BOOK, WRITTEN WITH GREAT INTEGRITY. IT TELLS THE STORY OF A YOUNG WOMAN, BORN INTO POVERTY, WHO WORKS AS A MAID IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF VICTOR HUGO. IN RESTRAINED AND UNSENTIMENTAL PROSE IT ILLUMINATES LIVES FORGOTTEN BY HISTORY.”

The nine other longlisted indie presses this year include: Splice, CB editions, Bullaun, Peninsula Press, Scotland Street Press, Holland House Books, Divided Publishing, and Prototype Publishing. See all the judges’ praise of all selected books here : https://www.republicofconsciousness.com/2024-longlist.

See the longlist here: https://www.republicofconsciousness.com/2024-longlist

Eastbound to be featured on BBC Radio 4's 'A Good Read'

On the 24th of June 2024, tune into ‘A Good Read’ on BBC Radio 4 or BBC Sounds for a discussion of Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal (trans. Jessica Moore). Presenter Harriet Gilbert and two guests will be sharing their thoughts on the book. We will post links to the episode as soon as they become available.

May the Tigris Grieve for You by Emilienne Malfatto longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize

May the Tigris Grieve for You by Emilienne Malfatto, translated by Lorna Scott Fox, has been longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2024. Here’s what the judges had to say: ‘A very powerful little book. It stages the ambiguities, hesitations, fears, and all the grey stuff that makes us human. Poetic, yet powerful in political statement.’

The Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses celebrates small, independent presses who support creatively challenging work. To view the entire longlist, see the Republic of Consciousness Substack. The shortlist will be announced in March.

Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal Best Book of 2023

Eastbound, translated by Jessica Moore, was listed on 28 November in the New York Times’ Best Ten Books of 2023 and in the New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year. Maylis de Kerangal’s novella, originally published in France in 2012, was also listed in the Financial Times and the New Statesman’s Best Books of 2022, when it was first published in the UK by Les Fugitives. Eastbound is published in North America by our US partner Archipelago Books, New York.

Ahead of the publication of Portrait Tales by Jean Frémon, here's what reviewers said about his earlier books published by Les Fugitives...

Portrait Tales by Jean Frémon is out soon! Here's a reminder of what to expect...

Praise for Nativity:

REVIEW: Esther Kinsky, GROVE and Jean Frémon, NATIVITY, Helen Vassalo, Translating Women

Drawn into Being: the drawings of Louise Bourgeois and Jean Frémon’s Nativity, Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou, Lucy Writers

Praise for Now, Now, Louison:

Louise Bourgeois as I Knew Her, Granta

‘Something like a portrait of Louise Bourgeois’, Harry Thorne, Frieze online

Now, Now, Louison, Robert Greer, London Magazine

Les Fugitives at Offprint 2023

From the 12th to the 14th of May, Les Fugitives will be at Offprint London 2023 at the Tate Modern. Come along and discover a selection of independent experimental and socially-engaged publishers in the fields of arts, architecture, design, humanities, and visual culture. We will be bringing pre-publication copies of Jean Frémon’s Portrait Tales!

For more event information, please see the event page on the Tate website.

Best Books of 2022 x 2

EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal (published Sept. 2022) was listed in the Financial Times’ best books of the year (fiction in translation):

“Though first published in France 10 years ago, there is a contemporary resonance to this slender tale of a young Russian conscript, Aliocha, trying to escape the army on the Trans-Siberian railway and encountering Hélène, a fellow fugitives in flight from her own past.”

Both DOWN WITH THE POOR! by Shumona Sinha (published Aug. 2022) and EASTBOUND featured among Preti Taneja’s three best books of 2022 in The New Statesman:

“I loved two books from small press Les Fugitives. Maylis de Kerangal’s Eastbound (translated by Jessica Moore) propels us through a fevered journey on the Trans-Siberian Express. Shumona Sinha’s brutal Down with the Poor! (translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan) breaks open a colonised brown mind negotiating its place between the black and Asian refugees and white do-gooders of contemporary France.’

Preti Taneja is the winner of the 2022 Gordon Burn Prize for second book Aftermath, and of the Desmond Elliott Prize, as well as the Eastern Eye Award for Literature for her debut novel We That Are Young.

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Camille Laurens, translated from the French by Willard Wood is the first of our titles to be longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation!

For more information about the prize and longlisted titles see here.

Judge Boyd Tonkin said of the 2021 longlist: ‘In every case, the artistry of the translator keeps pace with the invention of the author. Each book created its own world in its own voice. The judges warmly recommend them all.’