The Department of French and Italian is delighted to announce Associate Professor Benjamin Hoffmann has been honored with a prestigious creative writing prize from France’s Centre National du Livre. Under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Centre National du Livre champions the creation and dissemination of ambitious literary works, awarding fellowships based on the recommendations of specialized committees. This fellowship will enable Professor Hoffmann to dedicate six months to his new creative writing project.
Professor Hoffmann joined the faculty of The Ohio State University in 2015. He holds degrees in Modern Literature and Philosophy from the University of Bordeaux, the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure (Paris), along with a PhD from Yale University.
Specializing in eighteenth-century French literature and culture, Professor Hoffmann serves as the inaugural director of the French Center of Excellence. Through its online literary channel, French Press, the Center of Excellence conducts interviews with prominent novelists and thinkers shaping the cultural landscape in France. The Center of Excellence also hosts the Jules Verne Writing Residency, offering a creative haven for Francophone writers engaged in literary projects during their tenure at Ohio State.
Professor Hoffmann is the author of two monographs published in French and English, Posthumous America (Éditions Classiques Garnier & The Pennsylvania University Press) and The Paradoxes of Posterity (Éditions de Minuit & The Pennsylvania University Press). He’s also the author of six novels in French, four of which were published by Éditions Gallimard, France’s most prominent publishing house. Additionally, he is the editor of three eighteenth-century works, one collective volume, and is the author of numerous articles, op-eds, and short stories.
Professor Hoffmann’s research has garnered support from various institutions, including the Whiting Foundation, the Beinecke Library at Yale University, and the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University. His new novel, Les Minuscules, is forthcoming with Éditions Gallimard in 2024 and the English translation of his previous novel, Sentinel Island, will be published in February 2024 by Liverpool University Press.
