{"id":389347,"date":"2026-04-13T05:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389347\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T05:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:54:08","slug":"stumps-latest-translation-lands-spot-on-international-booker-prize-shortlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389347\/","title":{"rendered":"Stump’s latest translation lands spot on International Booker Prize shortlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jordan Stump, professor of French at the University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, has earned international recognition for his latest literary translation, which was shortlisted<\/a> for the International Booker Prize.<\/p>\n

Stump\u2019s English translation of\u00a0\u201cThe Witch,\u201d a novel by French author Marie NDiaye, is among the books competing for the prestigious award, which honors a single work of fiction translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Now in its 10th year, the International Booker Prize is the world\u2019s most influential award for translated fiction. The winner will be announced May 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not expect this at all,\u201d Stump said. \u201cFor one thing, the translation hadn\u2019t been published yet, and the novel is 30 years old, and that\u2019s very unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stump\u2019s translation of \u201cThe Witch\u201d was published<\/a> by Penguin Random House on April 7. The novel centers on Lucie, a mediocre witch trapped in a failing marriage who must pass her powers on to her twin daughters, whose abilities far exceed her own.<\/p>\n

Despite its supernatural elements, Stump describes the novel as grounded in deeply human experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really about witchcraft at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about loss and the attempt to keep together something that is disintegrating. Her family is disintegrating; everyone is fleeing her. The story expresses an emotion that is probably universal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastical, but the atmosphere is very everyday. You have to allow the fantastical and the ordinary to exist at the same time. It\u2019s a balancing act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stump has translated eight of NDiaye\u2019s books and has followed her work since early in her career. He has also taught several of her novels at Nebraska, an experience he said helped him better understand the nuances of her writing and use of language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like she was maybe a little too smart for me when I was first reading her,\u201d he said. \u201cI never quite really got everything, but her books always interested me. She\u2019s a very complicated and subtle writer, and it took me a while to learn how to read her, and a while to learn how to translate her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stump has previously earned acclaim for translating NDiaye’s work. His translation of\u00a0\u201cLadivine\u201d\u00a0was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2016, and\u00a0\u201cThe Cheffe” won the American Literary Translators Association\u2019s Annual Translation Prize for Prose in 2021.<\/p>\n

NDiaye herself praised Stump\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel an infinite gratitude toward translators \u2014 and most particularly toward Jordan Stump, who\u2019s been translating me for a long time now, with a steadfastness and a soundness that have earned him my very deep admiration,\u201d she\u00a0said in an interview<\/a> with the Booker Prize media team.<\/p>\n

Over his career, Stump has translated more than 30 novels. While his process is largely consistent, he said each project must inspire him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really has to mean a lot to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t inspire a passion, it\u2019s going to be flat, and that\u2019s the worst thing you can do to a book.\u201d<\/p>\n

He begins each translation with what he calls a \u201cvery bad\u201d rough draft, simply getting the language onto the page.\u00a0Then, comes meticulous work on printed pages with red pens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real translation happens in revision, going over it again and again,\u201d Stump said. \u201cLittle by little, a voice starts to materialize, and it begins to feel like a book that exists on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Stump, professor of French at the University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, has earned international recognition for his latest literary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-389347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}