French author Antoine Volodine wins $10,000 prize

NEW YORK (AP) — A surreal and comic book of vignettes has received a $10,000 prize given for French-language translations published in the U.S.

Antoine Volodine’s “Bardo or Not Bardo” has won the inaugural Albertine Prize, announced Thursday by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Volodine and translator J.T. Mahany will receive the award next month at the Albertine bookshop in New York City. The bookstore is named for one of the principal characters in Marcel Proust’s classic “In Search of Lost Time.”

Readers voted for the book online from a list of 10 chosen by the Albertine staff. Antoine Volodine is the pseudonym of a French writer who has published under various names. His other books include “Minor Angels” and “Radiant Terminus.”