Notable
Dr. Neil B. Bishop,
Department of French and Spanish, won First Prize in the 2008 John
Dryden Translation Competition, organized jointly by the British
Centre for Literary Translation and the British Association for
Comparative Literature. The John Dryden Translation Competition is
perhaps the most prestigious and competitive translation
competition extant, attracting leading literary translators the
world over. The awards ceremony took place in the United Kingdom,
July 21. Dr. Bishop's submission consisted of his English
translation of the majority of poems in En longues rivières
cachées by St. John's Francophone poet Annick Perrot-Bishop.
Literary translation, an art of equal value to other creative
activities, is indispensible to allow mutual discovery and better
intercultural understanding and appreciation among the many
cultures our planet offers. Dr. Bishop was a finalist for the
Governor General's literary translation award, and placed fourth in
an earlier edition of the Dryden Competition. In his main academic
area – literary analysis – Dr. Bishop is the only
person to whom the Association des Professeurs de français
des universités et collèges canadiens has awarded
both its prize for Best Scholarly Article and its prize for Best
Scholarly Book. He has completed his translation of Ms.
Perrot-Bishop's En longues rivières cachées and hopes
to see his translation published.
