Michel Houellebecq is a poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of several novels including The Map and the Territory (winner of the Prix Goncourt), Atomised, Platform, Whatever and Submission. He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur in 2019. Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer and editor. He has translated more than a hundred French and Hispanic novels by authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years, his work has twice earned him the Dublin Literary Award, he has been awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize on three occasions and the Premio Valle Inclán twice. Most recently, his translation of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild by Mathias Énard won the 2024 French-American Prize. He was the first translator to chair the jury for the International Booker Prize.