Ian Monk


Ian Monk was a British writer and translator, based in Paris, France.

Life and career

Monk was born in Woking, England on 1 January 1960.
From 1998, Monk was a member of the French writing group Oulipo. Among his works in English are the books, Family Archaeology and Other Poems and Writings for the Oulipo. His translations include several novels by Daniel Pennac, several works by his fellow Oulipian Georges Perec, and a rhymed translation of Raymond Roussel's New Impressions of Africa. He wrote mainly in French, but in 2015 published a bilingual, self-translated ebook of poetry, Les feuilles de yucca / Leaves of the Yucca. He won the Scott Moncrieff Prize in 2004 for his translation of Monsieur Malaussène by Daniel Pennac.
On 19 September 2025, Monk's body was discovered at his home in Bourges. He was 65.

Original works

  • We Did Everything, Make Now Press, 2024
  • 14 x 14, Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024 Interludes, Ma Bibliothèque, 2022PQR, éditions isabelle sauvage, 2021Aujourd'hui le soleil, Les Venterniers, 2019Vers de l'infini, Cambourakis, 2017Ça coule et ça crache, poèmes sur les photos de Hervé Van De Meulebroeke, Les Venterniers, 2016Twin Towers, 3D poem, les mille univers, 2015Les feuilles de yucca / Leaves of the Yucca, bilingual, Contre-mur, 2015Là, Cambourakis, 2014
  • 14 x 14, L'Âne qui butine, 2013
  • La Jeunesse de Mek-Ouyes, Cambourakis, 2010
  • Plouk Town, Cambourakis, 2007Stoned at Bourges, les mille univers, 2006Writings for the Oulipo, Make Now, 2005N/S, Éditions de l'attente, 2004 L'Inconnu du Sambre express, TEC-CRIAC, 2004Family Archaeology and Other Poems, Make now, 2004Le Voyage d'Ovide, le Verger éd., 2002Le Désesperanto, Plurielle, 2001
In collaboration:Battre les rues, in Les Mystères de la capitale,, Le bec en l'air, 2013Septines en Septaine et autres poèmes,, Les mille univers, 2013Anthologie de l’Oulipo, Gallimard, 2009.À chacun sa place, La Contre Allée, 2008Potje vleesch, La Nuit Myrtide, 2006Oulipo Compendium, Atlas Press, 1998
Publications in La Bibliothèque oulipienne:La Mesure du volailler, n° 242, 2023Canzone, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 222, 2015Le Monde des nonines, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 218, 2015Comment dire en anglais, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 188, 2010La Queninisation du yucca, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 181, 2009Les Feuilles du yucca, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 176, 2008Élémentaire, mon cher, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 128, 2003Quenoums, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 127, 2003Les États du sonnet, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 116, 2001Le Voyage d'Hoover, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 110, 1999Monquines, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 109, 1999Fractales, La Bibliothèque oulipienne, n° 102, 1999
Editor / translator All That is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963-2018, McSweeney's, 2018

Selected translations