The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, in partnership with Comica and VIP Brands, announced Robin Lang and Helge Dascher have been announced as this year’s winners of the Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – English, for 2025 this weekend, for their translation of The Jellyfish created by Boum, published by Montreal-based publisher Pow Pow Press.
The graphic novel was originally published in French as La méduse by Pow Pow last year, and has already won an Eisner Award, Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize Honor Book, Doug Wright Nipper Award, Graphic Medicine Award, and more.
The Runners Up were Return to Eden by Paco Roca, translated by Andrea Rosenberg, and The Incredible Story of Cooking by Stephane Douay and Benoist Simmat, translated by Montana Kane.
Robin Lang has been co-translating graphic novels for Pow Pow Press alongside Helge Dascher since 2017. In addition to being lead translator on The Jellyfish, her credits also include The Adventures of Sgoobidoo, by Cathon, and Lonely Boys by Sophie Bédard, winner of the 2021 Doug Wright award for best book. She thoroughly enjoys the intricacies involved in translating graphic novels and draws great satisfaction from helping these stories reach new readers. Robin runs a cut-flower farm in the Eastern Townships during the growing season and translates from French to English in the winter.
The translator of more than eighty graphic novels, Helge Dascher often works in collaboration with other word obsessives, including fellow Pow Pow contributors Robin Lang and Rob Aspinall. A Montrealer, she translates from French and German to English.
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 and, as in previous years, 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.
Launched in 2023, 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 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.
Last year, the winner was Alexa Frank, for her translation of “沖合の雷” (“Offshore Lightning”) by Saito Nazuna, translated from Japanese, published by Drawn & Quarterly.
Sophie Castille, the namesake of the awards, was the international rights director and VP of licensing for Mediatoon and cofounder and director of Europe Comics. She died unexpectedly in 2022.
“Sophie loved to bring people together,” noted comics authority Paul Gravett on her passing, “and her memory and example live on through all of us.”
In her memory, The Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation honour the vital role of translators in sharing graphic novels across nations and cultures and bringing the world’s comics together.
Now in its third year, the Sophie Castille Award – English is an award for the best translation of a non-English graphic novel into English. Publishers across the globe were invited to submit for consideration graphic novels they have published that are translations of works into English.
Similar awards for the translation of comics into other languages are also taking place in Spain, Poland, Greece, Slovenia and Italy. The ultimate goal is to have these awards in as many countries in the world as possible.
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.
“The Sophie Castille Awards are global awards to recognise the work of translators in the medium,” notes 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 were delighted to again have hosted the awards ceremony for the Sophie Castille Award – English prize,” says Festival Director Julie Tait. “Being part of this project is another aspect of our work as the UK Development Agency for Comics, alongside our International Rights Market at the Festival, a project also supported by VIP Brands.”
• More about The Sophie Castille Awards here on the LICAF web site and at sophie-castille-awards.org
Book links below are AmazonUK Affiliate Links
The Jellyfish by Boum (Samantha Leriche-Gionet). English edition by Pow Pow Press. Originally published in French as La méduse by Pow Pow in 2024. Translated by Robin Lang and Helge Dascher
Odette is a twenty-something year old with their own place, a steady job at a local bookstore, an adorable pet rabbit, and a budding crush on one of their customers. But Odette is haunted by something only they can see: a jellyfish that’s floating in their eye, blocking their vision. It’s a seemingly minor annoyance…until the jellyfish starts multiplying.
Showcasing stunning and inventive artwork by Boum (Boumeries), The Jellyfish is a tour-de-force of graphic storytelling, a powerful, occasionally terrifying story of facing the thing that we fear the most and finding a light to guide us through the darkness.
Featured on best of the year lists from the American Library Association, New York Public Library, the Comics Beat, and more
Boum (Samantha Leriche-Gionet) was born in Montreal in 1985. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in animation, she has seen her short films travel around the world. Since 2011, Boum has dedicated her time to creating comics. Her many works include A Small Revolution and her long-running, award-winning series, Boumeries. She has a husband, two daughters, two cats, and a long to-do list.
Over the past fifteen years, Boum has suffered from a number of eye conditions. In March 2021, she became permanently blind in her right eye.
The Incredible Story of Cooking: From Prehistory to Today, 500,000 Years of Adventure by Benoist Simmat. English Edition by NBM. Originally published in French as L’Incroyable Histoire de la cuisine by Les Arènes BD in 2021. Translated by Montana Kane
For the first time, a graphic novel tells the story of humanity through the evolution of cuisine. From the discovery of fire to organic cooking, this book is aimed at all curious people and foodies. By the authors of Wine, A Graphic History.
As soon as humans mastered fire, they invented cooking. Did you know that Sapiens invented steam cooking and freezing? That the Mesopotamians created soups, bread, beer, ovens? That gastronomy and tableware have been symbols of political power? These great discoveries changed the world, but also the way we eat. From America, the conquistadors brought spices, peppers, potatoes… Portuguese missionaries brought the frying technique to distant samurai who made the first tempuras. These are the beginnings of globalization. In the 19th century with the industrial revolution, “capitalist” cuisine emerged: it was the beginning of the food industry. In the 21st century, the organic and buy local movements are shown as a reaction against the harmful effects of this culinary and gastronomic standardization.
To finish in style, find twenty-two recipes for dishes mentioned throughout the story that you can make at home!
Return to Eden by Paco Roca. English edition by Fantagraphics. Originally published in Spanish as Regreso al Edén by Astiberri Ediciones in 2020. Translated by Andrea Rosenberg
It all starts with a photograph: an ordinary scene of a young woman and her family picnicking at a Valencian beach in 1947. Now in her twilight years, Antonia cherishes this photo dearly; it holds the memories of her upbringing, her family ― the key to her Eden. Taking off from this routine family outing, cartoonist Paco Roca paints a heartfelt portrait of his mother’s formative years.
This delicate portrayal of a humble family is at once an intimate biographical story and a broader reflection of the hardscrabble existence many faced in post-war Spain. Antonia and her family soldier through constant hunger, the shady dealings of the black market, traumas of war and parental abuse, and the oppressive atmosphere wrought by the Catholic church and Franco’s authoritarian regime ― and yet, they find oases of joy and wonder in cinema, imagination, and small acts of kindness.
Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – in English: The Other Nominees
The other nominees for this year’s Award in English were:
• Martha Kuhlman and Tereza Čechová for Bald, by Tereza Čechová and Štěpánka Jislová. English edition by Graphic Mundi. Originally published in Czech as Bez vlasů by Nakladatelství Paseka in 2020
• Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander for Blacksad: They All Fall Down, Part Two, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. English edition by Dark Horse Comics. Originally published in French by Dargaud in 2021
• Margaret Morrison for Capital & Ideology, by Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam. English edition by Abrams Comic Arts. Originally published in French by Sueil in 2021
• Jerome Saincantin & Erica Olson Jeffrey for Harry Dickson – Mysterion, by Jean Ray, Onofrio Catacchio, Doug Headline and Luana Vergari. English edition by Cinebook. Originally published in French as Harry Dickson – Mystera by Dupuis in 2023
• Victor Martins for Not Today: Undoing Home Repairs by Ana Margarida Matos. English Edition by Fieldmouse Press. Originally published in Portuguese as Hoje Não by Chili Com Carne
• Ryan Holmberg for Oba Electroplating Factory by Yoshiharu Tsuge. English edition by Drawn & Quarterly. Originally published in Japanese as 大場電気鍍金工業所 in 1973 by Futabasha
Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation – in English: The Judges
The Awards jury again comprises three judges:
Alex Fitch is the presenter of the UK’s only monthly broadcast radio show on comics – Panel Borders – on the Arts Council Radio Station in London. He has been widely published on the topics of film and graphic novels, lectures on the History of Animation at the University of Brighton, and is an award-winning postgraduate comics scholar.
Dr Harriet E. H. Earle is a senior lecturer of English at Sheffield Hallam University and a research fellow at the Centre for War, Atrocity, and Genocide at Nipissing University in Canada. She is the author of Silence in the Quagmire: The Vietnam War in US Comics and Comics: An Introduction.
Gabi Putnoki is the driving force behind the Graphic Novel Reading Room, a comic community initiative spreading the love of graphic novel reading and bringing new readers to the form.
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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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