The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, in partnership with Comica and VIP Brands, announced that Alexa Frank has been announced as this year’s winner of the Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – English, for 2024, for her translation of “沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) by Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese, published by Drawn & Quarterly.
The Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation are for the best translation of comics into local languages. Once again, English language publishers submitted a wide variety of works that had been translated into English. The quality of the submissions made selecting a short list a difficult task.
This year’s Sophie Castille Award – English prize was announced at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere by two of the four judges, Associate Professor in the Nottingham School of Art & Design, writer and artist Carol Adlam, and comic archivist, author, publisher and longstanding comics advocate Paul Gravett.
In addition to the announcement of Alexa Frank’s translation of Offshore Lightning as overall winner, Juliette: Or, the Ghosts Return in the Spring (“Juliette: Les fantômes reviennent au printemps“) by Camille Jourdy, translated from French by Aleshia Jensen, published by Drawn & Quarterly was announced as runner-up; and Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes (“Dans la Tête de Sherlock Holmes”) by Cyril Lieron and Benoit Dahan, translated from French by Christopher Pope, published by Titan Comics and The Cliff (“La falaise”) by Manon Debaye, translated from French by Montana Kane, published by Drawn & Quarterly were both “Highly Commended”.
Alexa Frank is a translator, writer, and editor who lives in New York. In 2019, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship, through which she researched and wrote at Waseda University in Tokyo. She is the translator of a wide range of Japanese manga, ranging from “alternative” or “literary” manga to cozy romance, fantasy, and cat manga.
In addition to her translation of Offshore Lighting, her recent work also includes River’s Edge by Kyoko Okazaki (Vertical Comics, 2023), and A Story of Seven Lives by Shirakawa Gin (Seven Seas, 2023).
Although unable to be at the Festival to accept her award, in a comment read to the audience, among others, Alexa thanked author Saito Nazuna, the team at Drawn & Quarterly and the “many Japanese teachers I have had in my life.”
In an interview last year with Heather Evans for Asymptote, a website focused on reporting on developments in world literature in translation, Alexa revealed she gained the commission to translate “沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) on the recommendation of another translator, Anne Ishii.
“She connected me to Tom Devlin at Drawn & Quarterly about this project, Offshore Lightning, and she said she wasn’t available to do it, but that I would be a good person for it. I am really grateful to her for that opportunity.
“She didn’t have to recommend me; we don’t know each other well, and I was very green, but it goes to show that sometimes, in the translation community, it really is about holding the door open. The fact that Anne thought of me goes to show that people are interested in doing the work of making this community more expansive and diverse. It’s something I think about in my own line of work; I’d like to be someone who holds the door open, too. There are a lot of excellent translators who just haven’t had the chance to break in yet.”
“沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) by Saito Nazuna
Nazuna Saito began making comics late. She was in her forties when she submitted a story to a major Japanese publishing house and won an award for newcomers. She continued to work through the 1990s, until she stopped drawing to take care of her ailing parents. In her sixties, she took a job teaching drawing at Kyoto Seika University and became inspired by her talented students. When she returned to teaching, her storytelling interests had shifted.
Before suffering a stroke, she drew In Captivity (2012) and Solitary Death Building (2015) – both focused on aging and death. Offshore Lightning collects Saito’s early work, as well as these two recent graphic novellas.
Anxiety and longing suffuse incisive portraits of postwar Japan. Stories like “Buy Dog Food and Go Home” and “Offshore Lightning” focus on middle-aged men caught in a cycle of self-pity and self-reflection. Saito gently pokes fun at their anguish and self-involvement while capturing the pathos of these men as they revisit childhood friendships and lost loves.
By contrast, “In Captivity” follows three siblings visiting their ailing mother, who is succumbing to dementia and resentful at her loss of agency. The siblings take a drive as they reckon with balancing the painful legacy of her caustic personality with attempting to honour this woman at the end of her life. “Solitary Death Building” documents an eccentric cast of elderly gossips as death descends upon the housing complex where they live.
Sophie Castille Award project continues to grow
Launched last year, the Sophie Castille Award – English is an award for the best translation of a non-English graphic novel into English, a project initiated by VIP Brands Ltd., in partnership with Comica and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Michele Hutchison was announced as the winner of the inaugural Award, for her translation from Dutch of The Philosopher, The Dog and the Wedding by Barbara Stok, published in English by SelfMadeHero.
These awards have been created in honour of Sophie Castille, international rights director and V. P. of licensing for Mediatoon, cofounder and director of Europe Comics, who died unexpectedly in 2022. Since the late 1990s, Sophie built bridges for bandes dessinées and their authors, from France and around the world. She was a constant source of creativity, motivating publishers across the globe and encouraging them to exchange ideas and, as a result, she became a key figure in the growth of translation of comics and graphic novels around the world.
The goal is to have these awards in as many countries in the world as possible. Since the Award was launched in the UK last year, five other countries have joined: FICOMIC – Barcelona, Spain, where Regina López Muñoz received the award for Lizzy Stewart’s “Alison” (“Errata Naturae”), Comicon, Naples – where Samata K. Milton Knowles received the award for Liv Stromquist’s “Astrologia” (“Fandango”). Łódź International Festival of Comics and Games Poland will announce their first winner the 14th September 2024, while Slovenia’s Tinta Festival Stripa will have two awards, one for a children’s comic and one for an adult comic, and will announce their first winners at this year’s festival (9th – 13th October). ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΑΚΑΔΗΜΙΑ ΚΟΜΙΚΣ (Greek Comics Academy) will announce their first award in May 2025.
Comics and graphic novels, considered in France as The Ninth Art, are a diverse and dynamic international medium that are growing in popularity every year and are loved the world over. Spreading these works internationally through translation is a way to bring the world together.
With comics in translation becoming an important influence in the publishing world, VIP Brands Ltd, Comica and LICAF decided to honour Sophie’s memory and continue her work to promote comics in translation around the world with these new Awards.
The UK jury again comprised of three judges: Associate Professor in the Nottingham School of Art & Design, writer and artist Carol Adlam; comic archivist, author, publisher and longstanding comics advocate Paul Gravett; and Gemma Sosnowsky, of Lancaster University.
“The Sophie Castille Awards are global awards to recognise the work of translators in the medium,’ explains Ivanka Hahnenberger, General Manager of VIP Brands and founder of the Sophie Castille Awards, “as well as to highlight the importance of the work of translation in the world of comics, recognising the skill and dedication of those who contribute significantly to the dissemination and understanding of comics around the world which was very important to Sophie Castille. We are very proud to have 6 countries onboard through six organisations that are very important to the world of local and international comics.”
“We were delighted to again be hosting the awards ceremony for the Sophie Castille Award – English prize,” says Festival Director Julie Tait. “Alongside the launch of the International Rights Market at the Festival, a project also supported by VIP Brands, this was another good reason for comic creators and publishers to come to Bowness.”
• More about The Sophie Castille Awards here on the LICAF web site and at sophie-castille-awards.org
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival returns to Bowness-on-Windermere Friday 26th – Sunday 28th September 2025
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Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – English: 2024 Shortlist
Shortlisted were (in alphabetical order of translator): “Je ne veux pas être maman” (“I Don’t Want to Be a Mom”) by Irene Olmo, translated from French by Kendra Boileau, published by Graphic Mundi, an imprint of Penn State University Press; “沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) by Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese by Alexa Frank, published by Drawn & Quarterly; “A la recherche de Gil Scott-Heron” (“In Search of Gil Scott-Heron”) by Thomas Maucéri and Seb Piquet, translated from French by James Hogan, published by Titan Comics; “L’Arc en cieliste” (“The Rainbow Catcher”) by Cédric Mayen, Laura Lorio and Ricci Roberto, translated from French by James Hogan, published by Europe Comics; “Juliette: Les fantômes reviennent au printemps” (“Juliette: Or, the Ghosts Return in the Spring“) by Camille Jourdy, translated from French by Aleshia Jensen, published by Drawn & Quarterly; “La falaise”(“The Cliff”) by Manon Debaye, translated from French by Montana Kane, published by Drawn & Quarterly; “Freud: le moment venu” (“Through Clouds of Smoke: Freud’s Final Days”) by Suzanne Leclaire and William Leroy, translated from French by Nanette McGuinness, published by Life Drawn Books, an imprint of Humanoids; and “Dans la Tête de Sherlock Holmes” (“Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes”) by Cyril Lieron and Benoit Dahan, translated from French by Christopher Pope, published by Titan Comics.
• More about The Sophie Castille Awards here on the LICAF web site and at sophie-castille-awards.org
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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