David R. Godine, founder of Boston publishing house David R. Godine Inc., will receive the Mosaïque Award for Exceptional Achievement on Friday evening, Feb. 10, at the French Library in Boston.
In selecting Godine to receive the award, the French Library cited his more than 50 years of excellence in publishing books of literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry, according to a press release.
“David has devoted his career to publishing carefully selected authors and beautifully presented books,” said Barbara de Bragança, chairwoman of the French Library’s Mosaïque Cultural Committee. “Moreover, David’s was the very first publishing house to offer English translations of works by such prominent modern French authors as Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Patrick Modiano, Sylvie Germain, Jean Echenoz and Georges Perec.”
This is the latest of many honors that Godine has received over the years, including the title of Chevalier dans L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, conferred by the French Government.
The evening’s events will include an interview of Godine by Mark Polizzotti, biographer, critic, translator, editor, and poet. Polizzotti was editorial director for David R. Godine Inc. and is currently publisher and editor in chief at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Polizzotti has translated over 50 books from the French, including works by Modiano, Marguerite Duras, Jean Echenoz , Raymond Roussel, Andre Bréton, and Gustave Flaubert. Polizzotti’s essays and reviews have appeared in The New Republic, Bookforum, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, Parnassus, Partisan Review, and elsewhere.
Founded in 1945 and located at 53 Marlborough St. in the Back Bay, The French Library provides cultural programs and French language lessons and is home to the largest private collection of French volumes in the United States.
The Mosaïque Award for Exceptional Achievement is conferred to an individual who has excelled in the humanities, the sciences, or the public interest, and who reflects the humanitarian spirit of French culture. David Godine is only the second person to receive the award. The first recipient, in 2018, was world-renowned French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.