The winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, is Melvill, written by Argentinian novelist Rodrigo Fresán, translated from Spanish by Will Vanderhyden, and published by Open Letter Books.
Melvill, which Open Letter published last October, follows a dying man who tells the story of his remarkable life to his son. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus praised the book as “an elegant, meditative story about storytelling—for lives are, Fresán writes, ‘really, books of stories.’”
Dorian Stuber, one of the award’s judges, said in a statement, “Opening Rodrigo Fresán’s Melvill, readers will know from the array of footnotes on the first few pages that this book is for the head. But the further they get into its gorgeous prose, so dizzyingly translated by Will Vanderhyden, the more they will see that it’s also for the heart.”
The Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, the North American version of a U.K. award, was established in 2022 by bookseller and critic Lori Feathers. The award “celebrates the commitment of independent presses to fiction of exceptional literary merit.”
The previous winners of the prize are God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, written by Arinze Ifeakandu and published by A Public Space Books, and Lojman, written by Ebru Ojen, translated by Aron Aji and Selin Gökçesu, and published by City Lights.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
