Jeffrey Zuckerman


Jeffrey Zuckerman is a translator of French literature. His work centers on contemporary fiction from mainland France and Mauritius—including Ananda Devi, Shenaz Patel, and Carl de Souza—as well as texts of the queer canon—including Jean Genet and Hervé Guibert. Zuckerman lives in New York City.
In a 2016 interview, he described the role his translation of Ananda Devi's Eve Out of Her Ruins had on his career as a translator: "I translated the first few pages practically as I read them, and then emailed Ananda Devi out of nowhere, asking if there was any chance she might consider letting me translate this book into English. She said yes, and, well, the rest is history." The translation won a CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction.

Selected translations

[Nathacha Appanah]

Zuckerman's translation of Devi's Eve Out of Her Ruins was shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award, the Albertine Prize, and the TA First Translation Prize, and won the CLMP Firecracker Award. His translation of Devi's The Living Days was shortlisted for the French-American Foundation Translation Prize.
In 2016, Zuckerman was awarded a PEN/Heim Translation Grant to translate Hervé Guibert's short stories.
Several of his translations—including Now the Night Begins, The Living Days, and Black Village—have received ; in 2020, Pina won the Grand Prize.
Also in 2020, Zuckerman was named a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.