Irish publisher Bullaun Press has won the Republic of Consciousness prize for small presses with the book There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert.
There’s a Monster Behind the Door is a “rollicking, sardonic picaresque”, said judge Houman Barekat. “The novel has important things to say about colonialism and society, but it’s also tremendous fun – darkly funny, acerbic, energetic.”
The novel, which is also longlisted for this year’s International Booker prize, is set in the 1980s in the French overseas department of Réunion Island, where Bélem was born. The book is “a compact, comic tour-de-force”, said judge Jude Cook. “It interrogates postcolonial legacies, domestic abuse and a young girl’s rite of passage into adulthood with the lightest of touches.”
There’s a Monster Behind the Door is Bélem’s first of two novels. The French edition won the Grand Prix du Roman Métis and the Prix André Dubreuil du Premier Roman. Bélem also teaches secondary school students and works as an associate judge in a juvenile court.
The book’s publisher, Bullaun Press, was set up in 2021 by Bridget Farrell to focus on literature in translation. The press’s name comes from the Irish word for a stone with a manmade hollow that holds water at its centre, bullán. “Many bullauns around the country are traditionally associated with magical, healing or holy properties,” reads the publisher’s website.
The Republic of Consciousness Prize is awarded annually for the best fiction by a small press publishing 12 or fewer titles a year. The prize rewards literary merit, editorial risk, and fiction that would not be possible without the culture of small presses .
Farrell said: “The Republic of Consciousness Prize has become a vital part of the landscape for independent presses in Ireland and the UK in the last nine years, with books written in English rubbing shoulders with those translated into English. Their long- and shortlists consistently provide a welcome window onto the multiplicity of exciting, often uncategorisable books spilling out under the radar of mainstream media reviews.
“To quote Neil Griffiths, founder of the prize, at the winner announcement event last night in Foyle’s Bookshop, it provides a ‘fishtank effect’ for those titles to be recognised away from the ever growing population of the pool. The fact that prize money is awarded at the longlist stage shows a recognition of the reality that such support can be a lifeline for small presses.
“There’s a Monster Behind the Door is a very special book from a remarkable author. All credit is due to the translators for championing this novel and bringing it to our attention. None of this would have been possible without the Arts Council, which has supported us in commissioning and publishing international titles since 2022.
“We are a very small collaborative enterprise. Every part of the process of bringing this book into the hands of an English-language readership has been rewarding. A special mention goes to editor Seán Farrell for his magic touch. Huge thanks are due to Literature Ireland, the Centre National du Livre, and the Institut Français for funding as well as to the writers who endorsed the book, the reviewers and booksellers who got behind it. The Embassy of France in Ireland supported Bélem’s visit to Ireland for the launch last October in Books Upstairs, Dublin. We all join in offering her our heartfelt congratulations.”
The shortlist for the International Booker Prize is announced next Tuesday, April 8th, and Bullaun publishes Bélem’s second novel, The Rarest Fruit, translated by Fleetwood and Saint-Loubert, on May 1st.
