Annie Saumont

Annie Saumont, renowned French translator and short-story writer who sadly passed away in 2017, was the laureate of the Randell Cottage writing residency for 2006-2007. 

Specializing in Anglo-Saxon literature after becoming the appointed translator for John Fowles, she has written a new translation of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. She then devoted herself to writing short stories (she has published over 300 short stories in some thirty volumes), an art in which she has developed exceptional expertise and which has earned her great renown. In 1981, she won the Prix Goncourt for Quelquefois dans les cérémonies (Gallimard), the Grand Prix de la Société des Gens de Lettres for Je ne suis pas un camion (Seghers) in 1989, and the Grand Prix de l'Académie française (for the body of her work).

Following her residency she published the novel Les croissants du dimanche.