New York, June 28, 2017- Noted translator, journalist, author and literary critic Liesl Schillinger has been awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by Bénédicte de Montlaur, Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy, on June 27th, 2017 in New York.

The Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists and writers, as well as people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.

Liesl Schillinger is well-known for her contributions to the world of literature and writing. After studying comparative literature at Yale, she began a career at The New Yorker. Her articles, which frequently feature French culture, can be found in such publications as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, O The Oprah Magazine, and Foreign Policy. In 1995, she became a literary critic for The New York Times Book Review, where, since 2004, she has been a regular reviewer. Vividly celebrating French life and literature, her writings have catered to a Francophile audience in the United States.

In addition, Schillinger is an accomplished translator of French, Italian, and German, working at present on a bestselling novel about Napoleon’s son, L’Aiglon. Her recent translations include Every Day, Every Hour, by Natasa Dragnic, and The Lady of the Camellias, by Alexandre Dumas, fils, for Penguin Classics. She is the author of Wordbirds: An Irreverent Lexicon for the 21st Century.

In New York’s literary community, Schillinger frequently serves as a speaker, moderator or judge at cultural events hosted by publishers and organizations from Random House, New York Review Books, Symphony Space and the Brooklyn Book Festival to PEN World Voices, La Pléiade, Read Russia, the German Book Office, and Albertine at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

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The Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists and writers, as well as people who have contributed significantly furthering the arts in France and throughout the world. The Order of Arts and Letters is given out three times annually under the jurisdiction of the minister of Culture and Communication. American recipients of the award include Paul Auster, Ornette Coleman, Agnes Gund, Marilyn Horne, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Meier, Robert Paxton, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and Uma Thurman.

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy promotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural  Services brings artists, authors, educational and university programs to cities nationwide. It also builds partnership between French and American artists, institutions and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop, Albertine, it fosters French American exchange around literature and the arts.

Media Contact:

Camille Desprez, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, camille.desprez@diplomatie.gouv.fr, +1.212.439.1417