After being shortlisted for the coveted Giller Prize three weeks ago, the translation of the novel What I know about you, by Éric Chacour, was named a finalist for the equally renowned Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize on Wednesday.
Renamed in 2021 in honour of two of its co-founders (Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson), the Writers’ Trust of Canada Literary Prize is endowed with a $60,000 purse and has rewarded annually, since 1997, a novel or a collection of short stories written by a Canadian author.
The English version of What I know about you, What I Know About You (translated by Pablo Strauss at Coach House Books), has just been published in bookstores. It is in competition with four other titles published in English and chosen from a list of 139 works: Prairie Edge (by Conor Kerr), Black Code (by Canisia Lubrin), Hi, It’s Me (by Fawn Parker) and Batshit Seven (from Sheung-King).
This first novel by Éric Chacour, which tells the story of an impossible relationship in Cairo in the 1980s, has won numerous awards here and in France since its publication in 2023 by Alto, in addition to being translated into a dozen languages.
In 2022, Quebecers Kev Lambert and Rima Elkouri were also selected by the jury of the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for the translation of their novels. Roberval Quarrel And Manam.
The winner will be announced on November 9.