With Sans Soleil

Bertrand Schefer was born in 1972 in Paris and is the author of seven books, including Francesca Woodman (2023) and Disparitions (2020, in which “Avec Sans Soleil” originally appeared), both published by Éditions P.O.L. Schefer is also the translator of Giacomo Leopardi’s Zibaldone into French (Éditions Allia, 2003).

A writer and translator of French and Italian, Katie Shireen Assef grew up in Minnesota and lives in Marseille. Her translation of Valérie Mréjen’s novel Black Forest (Deep Vellum, 2019) was a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. Assef’s short translations and writing have appeared in publications such as 3:AM Magazine, Blue Arrangements, Asymptote, The Dial, SARKA Journal, and elsewhere.

Claire Foster is a writer, bookseller, and literary translator from French. Her writing and translations have appeared in The Hopkins Review, Public Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Her translation of Valérie Manteau’s novel The Furrow (winner of the 2018 Prix Renaudot) is forthcoming from Invisible in 2026. Born and raised in Ohio, Foster lives and works in Toronto.