Reading guide: The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump
Dreamlike and unsettling, The Witch is set in a small French town where a mediocre witch passes on her gifts to her twin daughters, who turn out to have skills far beyond her own
Jordan Stump
Jordan Stump has translated many authors into English from French, including Marie Redonnet, Eric Chevillard, and Honoré de Balzac
His translation of Jardin des Plantes by Claude Simon won the 2001 French-American Foundation translation prize, and he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres in 2006.
His English language translations of works by Marie NDiaye have been nominated for the International Booker Prize twice. Ladivine was longlisted for the prize in 2016, and The Witch was shortlisted in 2026.
Author photo supplied by MacLehose Press
The language in this novel – and in Jordan Stump’s translation – is exquisite: sentences twist and transform in unexpected ways
— The International Booker Prize 2026 judges on The Witch
All nominated books
Marie NDiaye’s harrowing and subtly crafted novel of a woman captive to a secret shame that ensnares three generations
By Marie NDiaye
Translated by Jordan Stump
A mediocre witch, in a mediocre marriage, tries to pass on her gifts to her twin daughters, who, it becomes apparent, have skills far beyond her own
By Marie NDiaye
Translated by Jordan Stump
