2021 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire First Round Nominations

The nominations for the 2021 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire have been announced. This is in effect a longlist, and in a few weeks the jurors will issue their shorter second round of nominees. The awards will be presented on May 31 at the Étonnants Voyageurs festival in Saint-Malo, France.

The jurors for the award are Joëlle Wintrebert (president), Jean-Luc Rivera (vice-president), Bruno Para (assistant secretary), Jean-Claude Dunyach (treasurer), Sylvie Allouche, François Angelier, Audrey Burki, Olivier Legendre, Sylvie Le Jemtel, Jean-Claude Vantroyen. The Secretary (not a member of the jury) is Pascal Patoz. More than 180 novels in the French and foreign adult categories alone were scrutinized by jurors.

Roman francophone / Novel in French

  • Ce qu’ici-bas nous sommes by Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès (Zulma)
  • Rive gauche by Pierre Bordage (L’Atalante)
  • Au bal des absents by Catherine Dufour (Seuil)
  • Un long voyage by Claire Duvivier (Aux Forges de Vulcain)
  • Le Banquet annuel de la Confrérie des fossoyeurs by Mathias Enard (Actes Sud)
  • L’Anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier (Gallimard)
  • Des jours sauvages by Xabi Molia (Seuil)
  • Quitter les monts d’automne by Émilie Querbalec (Albin Michel)
  • Le Sanctuaire by Laurine Roux (Le Sonneur)
  • Images de la fin du monde by Christophe Siébert (Au diable vauvert)

Roman étranger / Foreign Novel

  • Trilogie d’une nuit d’hiver, tomes 1 à 3, by Katherine Arden (The Winternight Trilogy [The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, The Winter of the Witch]; Denoël)
  • Un océan de rouille by C. Robert Cargill (Sea of Rust; Albin Michel)
  • Kra, Dar Duchesne dans les ruines de l’Ymr by John Crowley (Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr; L’Atalante)
  • Dans la vallée du soleil by Andy Davidson (In the Valley of the Sun; Gallmeister)
  • Djinn city by Saad Z. Hossain (Djinn City; Agullo)
  • Galeux by Stephen Graham Jones (Mongrels; La Volte)
  • La Tour du Freux by Ann Leckie (The Raven Tower; Nouveaux Millénaires)
  • Les Agents sentimentaux de l’empire volyen by Doris Lessing (Documents Relating to the Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire; La Volte)
  • La Fileuse d’argent by Naomi Novik (Spinning Silver; Pygmalion)
  • Terra Ignota, tomes 1 & 2, by Ada Palmer (Too Like the Lightning and Seven Surrenders; Le Bélial’)
  • Borne by Jeff Vandermeer (Au diable vauvert)
  • Eriophora by Peter Watts (The Freeze-Frame Revolution; Le Bélial’)

Nouvelle francophone / Short Fiction in French

  • “Baiser la face cachée d’un proton” by Sabrina Calvo (in Bifrost n° 97)
  • “Par les visages” by Olivier Caruso (in Bifrost n° 99)
  • “Les Secrets du premier coffre” (collection) by Fabien Cerutti (Mnémos)
  • “La Bête du loch Doine” by Thomas Day (in Bifrost n° 100)
  • “Présence” by Claude Ecken (in Utopiales 2020, ActuSF)
  • “Toxiques dans les prés” by Claude Ecken (in Nos futurs, ActuSF)
  • “Ourobouros” by L. L. Kloetzer (in Bifrost n° 99)
  • “Dernières Vacances de la femme-termite” by Michèle Laframboise (in Solaris n° 215)
  • “À la recherche du Slan perdu” by Michel Pagel (in Bifrost n° 98)

Nouvelle étrangère / Foreign Short Fiction

  • “Vigilance” by Robert Jackson Bennett (Le Bélial’)
  • Exhalation (collection) by Ted Chiang (Denoël)
  • “Guide sorcier de l’évasion : atlas pratique des contrées réelles et imaginaires” by Alix E. Harrow (“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” in Bifrost n° 99)
  • La Fabrique des lendemains (collection) by Rich Larson (Tomorrow Factory; Le Bélial’ & Quarante-Deux)
  • “Salissure” by Rich Larson (“Smear Job” in Galaxies n° 66/108)
  • Bienvenue à Sturkeyville (collection) by Bob Leman (Welcome to Sturkeyville [this appears to be a specifically-French collection of his Goster County stories, with no English counterpart]; Scylla)
  • “Travail d’intérêt general” by Megan Lindholm (“Community Service” in Sorciers et magie [in Gardner Dozois’ The Book of Magic]; Pygmalion)
  • “Pensées et priers” by Ken Liu (“Thoughts and Prayers “ in Bifrost n° 97)
  • “Rue de la mémoire qui flanche” by Mike Resnick (“Down Memory Lane” in Galaxies n° 64/106)
  • “C’est vous Sannata3159?” by Vandana Singh (“Are You Sannata3159?” in Bifrost n° 98)
  • Histoires bizarroïdes (collection) by Olga Tokarczuk (Opowiadania bizarne [Polish collection, Bizarre Stories]; Noir sur Blanc)
  • Perles (collection) by Chi Ta-wei (Pearls [Taiwanese collection – this appears to be a specifically-French collection of his Taiwanese stories, with no English counterpart]; L’Asiathèque)

Roman jeunesse francophone / Novels for youth in French

  • Ordo by Anthony Combrexelle (404)
  • La Dernière Geste, tomes 1 & 2, by Morgan Of Glencoe (ActuSF)
  • Steam Sailors, tomes 1 & 2, by E. S. Green (Gulf Stream)
  • Lou, après tout, tomes 1 à 3, by Jérôme Leroy (Syros)
  • Le Royaume de Pierre d’Angle, tomes 1 à 3, by Pascale Quiviger (Rouergue)
  • Bordeterre by Julia Thévenot (Sarbacane)
  • Le Projet Starpoint, tomes 1 à 3, by Marie-Lorna Vaconsin (La Belle Colère)

Roman jeunesse étranger / Foreign novels for youth

  • Terreur à Smoke Hollow by Katherine Arden (Small Spaces ; Pocket Jeunesse)
  • Entre chiens et loups, tomes 1 à 5, by Malorie Blackman (Noughts & Crosses Vol 1-5 [Noughts & Crosses, Knife Edge, Checkmate, Double Cross, Crossfire]; Milan)
  • Les Secrets by Andrus Kivirähk (Sirli, Siim ja saladused [Estonian story, “The Secrets”]; Le Tripode)
  • Burn by Patrick Ness (Pocket Jeunesse)
  • Akata, tomes 1 & 2, by Nnedi Okorafor (Akata Vol 1-2 [Akata Witch, Akata Warrior];  L’École des loisirs)
  • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (ActuSF)
  • La Voleuse d’os by Margaret Owen (The Merciful Crow; Pocket Jeunesse)
  • La Trilogie de la Poussière, tomes 1 & 2, by Philip Pullman (The Book of Dust Vol 1-2 [La Belle Sauvage, The Secret Commonwealth]; Gallimard Jeunesse)

Prix Jacques Chambon de la traduction / Jacques Chambon Translation Prize

  • Anne Cohen Beucher for Akata Vol 1-2 (Akata Witch, Akata Warrior) by Nnedi Okorafor (L’École des loisirs)
  • Patrick Couton for Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley (L’Atalante)
  • Pierre-Paul Durastanti for Tomorrow Factory by Rich Larson (collection) (Le Bélial’ & Quarante-Deux)
  • Gilles Goullet for The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts (Le Bélial’)
  • Jean-François Le Ruyet for Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain (Agullo)
  • Laure Manceau for In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (Gallmeister)
  • Nathalie Mège for Looking for Jake: Stories by China Miéville (collection) (Fleuve)
  • Arnaud Mousnier-Lompré for the anthology Gardner Dozois’ The Book of Magic (Pygmalion)
  • Laurent Queyssi for Neuromancer by William Gibson (Au diable vauvert)

Graphisme: Prix Wojtek Siudmak  / Wojtek Siudmak Graphic Design prize

  • Pascal Blanché for Tomorrow Factory by Rich Larson (collection) (Le Bélial’ & Quarante-Deux)
  • Cindy Canévet for Hypothetical Lizard by Alan Moore (ActuSF)
  • Sonia Chaghatzbanian for Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley (L’Atalante)
  • Kako for Tupinilândia (Portuguese novel) by Samir Machado de Machado (Métailié)
  • Aurélien Police for Dune, the Magazine-Book edited by Lloyd Chéry (L’Atalante and Leha)
  • Sparth for The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi (L’Atalante)
  • Vaderetro for Steam Sailors Vol 1-2 (French novels), by Ellie S. Green (Gulf Stream)
  • Zariel for Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (ActuSF)

Essai / Nonfiction

  • Cyberpunk. Histoire(s) d’un futur imminent by Stéphanie Chaptal & Sylvain Nawrocki & Jean Zeid (Ynnis)
  • Kirbysphère by Xavier Fournier (Caurette)
  • Dans les imaginaires du Futur by Ariel Kyrou (ActuSF)
  • Comment parle un robot? by Frédéric Landragin (Le Bélial’)
  • Monstres fabuleux. Dracula, Alice, Superman et autres amis littéraires by Alberto Manguel (Actes Sud)
  • Henry Darger. Dans les royaumes de l’irréel by Xavier Mauméjean (Aux Forges de Vulcain)
  • Kaiju, envahisseurs & apocalypse. L’Âge d’or de la science-fiction japonaise by Fabien Mauro (Aardvark)
  • Ourod. Autopsie culturelle des monstres en Russie by Annick Morard (La Baconnière)

Prix special

  • Le Cycle des contrées, by Jacques Abeille (Le Tripode)
  • Pierre Christin. Le grand rénovateur du récit en bande dessinée, edited by Frédéric Bosser (Caurette)
  • Xavier Dollo & Djibril Morissette-Phan for L’Histoire de la science-fiction en bande-dessinée (Critic & Les Humanoïdes Associés)
  • Les éditions Mnémos and Timothée Rey for The Complete Change War by Fritz Leiber
  • Les éditions La Volte for Canopus in Argos: Archives by Doris Lessing

[Thanks to JJ for title identifications and translations.]

3 thoughts on “2021 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire First Round Nominations

  1. I have questions about the Bob Leman collection in the Foreign Short Fiction category. I happen to be a fan of his writing, he had some great stories in F&SF in the 1980s. I am curious how this author whose last published story was in 1988 (the only story ISFDB lists after 1988 is the original story from his complete collection in 2002, that story is a LDV escapee and was most likely sold to HE in the 80s), had a collection published in France in 2020, 14 years after he passed, and a partial collection at that. Why only publish the Goster County stories which IMHOP are, while charming, the lesser part of his fiction? Why not reprint his complete collection (330pp per ISFDB)? And it showed up on the Grand Prix ballot! This fascinates me. Any Filers with contacts in the French publishing industry to shed some light on this?

  2. Hi Roger,

    The comment “[this appears to be a specifically-French collection of his Goster County stories, with no English counterpart]” is mine, based on my research of this collection’s contents — which by necessity, was all done on websites written in French.

    Here’s what Babelio’s website says:

    6 Histoires autour de la bourgade de Sturkeyville où des créatures rodent et où des hommes tombent.

    Sommaire du recueil :

    • Loob (1979)
    • Feesters in the Lake (1980)
    • The Pilgrimage of Clifford M. (1984), inédit en français
    • Olida (1987)
    • Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming (1987), inédit en français
    • The Time of the Worm (1988)

    Roughly translated, this is:

    6 Stories set in the village of Sturkeyville where creatures roam and men fall.
    Table of Contents

    As far as I can tell, the only English-language collection containing these stories is Feesters in the Lake & Other Stories, which contains many more stories than just those 6; in other words, there is no English-language analogue to the Welcome to Sturkeyville collection.

    As to why that particular publishing decision was made, you’d have to talk to the French publisher to find out.

  3. I think I can answer your questions, at least partly.
    The publisher, Scylla, is a small press, the offshoot of a Parisian SF bookstore. One of their customers brought Bob Leman to their attention, as he hadn’t forgotten the stories “Fiction” magazine (the French edition of F&SF) had published in the 1980s. They read them and decided to publish some of them, with the help of translator Nathalie Serval, who’d already worked on some of the “Fiction” stories. They contacted the estate to buy the rights, started a kickstarter campaign, and produced a good-looking book, with excellent illustrations. The book got good reviews and sold nicely.
    That’s as simple as that.

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