The 2019 Albertine Prize, one of the only literary awards in the United States whose winner is selected by the reading public rather than a judging panel, today unveiled its nominee list of five works of fiction in French, translated into English and published in the U.S. over the past year. As of today, U.S. readers nationwide can vote for their favorite book. The $10,000 prize is co-presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Showcasing the extraordinary  diversity and creativity of contemporary French writing, the five nominated books map a literary journey that spans three continents and encompasses the outbreak of a civil war and the Rwandan genocide (Small Country, Gaël Faye); the epic journey of a family over three generations between Teheran and Paris and eastern and western cultures (Disoriental, Négar Djavadi); the creation and destruction of a family in a southwestern village in France (Waiting for Tomorrow, Nathacha Appanah), the ambivalent and tragic relationship between a family and a nanny (The Perfect Nanny, Leila Slimani), a narrative analysis of WWII outbreak and Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria (The Order of the Day, Éric Vuillard).

You can now read about the nominated works and vote for your favorite book at  http://www.albertine.com/albertine-prize-2019/ through April 30, 2019. The author and translator of the prize-winning book will be honored in a ceremony, in the presence of the Prize's Honorary Chairs, acclaimed author and translator Lydia Davis and French literary critic and TV and radio host François Busnel, at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy on June 5^th, 2019. The author will receive $8,000 and the translator will receive $2,000.