Launch of Neil Hegarty's novel 'La surface de l'eau' (Inch Levels)

In 2020, Mona de Pracontal spent 8 weeks at Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation. Mona was our first French Translation Fellow, on a programme sponsored by the Embassy of France in Ireland. During her time at Trinity, Mona worked on her translation of the novel 'Inch Levels' by Neil Hegarty. Mona's translation, 'La Surface de l'eau' has now been published in Paris, and we are delighted to welcome Neil and Mona back to the Centre to launch this translation.

Mona de Pracontal studied English and American Studies in Paris, and then film history and filmmaking in New York. She started translating as a student and has not stopped since, with forays into the film industry and, more recently, conference interpreting.
Her translations include works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hannah Tinti, Cynan Jones, Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, Rick Riordan, Frank Baum, Melvin Burgess, Howard Norman, Kaye Gibbons, Hanif Kureishi, Conor O'Callaghan, as well as non-fiction by William Burroughs and Gloria Steinem.
She was awarded the Baudelaire Prize for literary translation in 2009 for 'alf of A Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the 'Prix de traduction de la Fondation irlandaise 2019' for her translation of 'Nothing on Earth' by Conor O'Callaghan.

Neil Hegarty grew up in Derry and he is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. His novels include The Jewel (2019) and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year award in 2017. The French edition of Inch Levels is published as La surface de l’eau (Éditions Joelle Losfeld), translated by Mona de Pracontal.
Neil is co-editor with Nora Hickey M’Sichili of the essay collection Impermanence (No Alibis Press, 2022). He lives in Dublin.

This event was generously sponsored by the Embassy of France in Ireland.