Dr. Dana Kress to be honored by the Académie française
SHREVEPORT, LA – Dr. Dana Kress, longtime professor of French at Centenary and executive director of the Centenary College of Louisiana Press, has been awarded a prestigious international prize from the Académie française in Paris. The Prix du rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature françaises, one of the Académie’s annual Grands Prix, recognizes Kress’s accomplishments in spreading the influence and raising the prestige of the French language through his work as the founder and champion of Les Éditions Tintamarre, the heritage language imprint of the Centenary Press dedicated to preserving and publishing American literature written in languages other than English.
Kress will travel to Paris in December 2024 to receive the prize, one of 67 being awarded this year by the Académie française to scholars and writers from France and around the world. He is one of only a handful of international award recipients this year.
Kress has led Éditions Tintamarre since its inception, building its catalogue to include nearly 100 titles that showcase the original literature of the individuals who have contributed to Louisiana’s diverse culture, including French, French-Canadian, German, Spanish, African, and Caribbean peoples. In November 2023, Éditions Tintamarre was selected as the featured publishing house by the Book Festival of Montréal, the second largest French-language book festival in the world. Kress, along with his Centenary colleagues Dr. Andia Augustin-Billy and Dr. Ryan Doherty, attended the festival and had the chance to introduce thousands of visitors to the work of Centenary’s unique press.
In 2017, Kress was elevated to the rank of Officier in the French Ordre des Palmes Académiques, recognizing individuals who further French intellectual, scientific, and artistic achievements around the world. In 2009, Kress was named an honorary consul of France for North Louisiana by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, entrusting him with the mission of representing the French Republic in North Louisiana.
“While I am profoundly touched to have received this award, I am also cognizant that this prize really belongs to all the French writers of Louisiana, past and present, to the Éditions Tintamarre and its Literary Board that has worked tirelessly for more than two decades and to Centenary College and its students, without which the press's accomplishments would have been impossible,” said Kress.
The Académie française was established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu and is the primary official authority on the French language, regulating French grammar, spelling, and literature and publishing an official dictionary of the language. The Académie has been a division of the Institut de France since 1803 and retains its traditional structure of 40 elected members, known as les immortels (“the immortals”). Famous immortels include Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Louis Pasteur; of the 740 total immortels elected since the Académie’s founding, 11 have been women.
In addition to regulating French language, the Académie awards annual prizes in a variety of fields, including literature, painting, poetry, theatre, cinema, history, and translation.
“Thanks to Dr. Kress’s leadership, Centenary College is now known around the world as a leader in French-language publication,” said Centenary president Dr. Christopher L. Holoman. “I am especially proud of the work he and his colleagues have done discovering, protecting, and promoting the works from Creole, Cajun, and other Louisiana populations whose work has been historically overlooked. As Louisiana’s first college, Centenary is honored to have this role in caring for the state’s legacy.”
Learn more about the Académie française at www.academie-francaise.fr.