Winners of the 2012 European Union Prize for Literature announced at Frankfurt Book Fair!
Today, we have breaking news from another of the European Commission’s endeavours for promoting creativity and culture in its member states and beyond. Fans of literature, read on…
The winners of the 2012 European Union Prize for Literature were announced today at the Frankfurt Book Fair by Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.
The aim of the European Union Prize for Literature is to put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works.
The Consortium selected by the Commission to coordinate this initiative, the European Booksellers Federation (EBF), the European Writers’ Council (EWC) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) is jointly responsible for setting up the national juries and the practical organisation of the award ceremony. Over a three-year cycle, national juries from 37 countries participating in the EU Culture Programme - the 27 EU Member States, as well as Croatia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, Iceland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania - nominate the work of an emerging talent.
2012 is the fourth edition of the Prize and the 12 winners are:
- Anna Kim for Die gefrorene Zeit (Frozen Time), Austria
- Lada Žigo for Rulet (Roulette), Croatia
- Laurence Plazenet for L’amour seul (Love Alone), France
- Viktor Horvàth for Török tükör (Turkish Mirror), Hungary
- Kevin Barry for City of Bohane, Ireland
- Emanuele Trevi for Qualcosa di scritto (Something Written), Italy
- Giedra Radvilavièiute for Ši¹nakt aš miegosiu prie sienos (Tonight I Shall Sleep by the Wall), Lithuania
- Gunstein Bakke for Maud og Aud: ein roman om trafikk (Maud and Aud: A Novel on Traffic), Norway
- Piotr Paziński for Pensjonat (Boarding House), Poland
- Afonso Cruz for A Boneca de Kokoschka (Kokoschka’s Doll), Portugal
- Jana Beňová for Café Hyena (Plán odprevádzania) (Café Hyena (Seeing People Off)), Slovakia
- Sara Mannheimer for Handlingen (The Action), Sweden
The Prize is a great opportunity to explore, develop and support creativity within the European Union, and will allow the authors to reach a wider readership, be translated into a more widely spoken language and be read beyond the book’s home base. The winners will receive their awards from Commissioner Vassiliou at a ceremony in Brussels on 22 November, in the presence of Mrs Doris Pack, MEP, and other public figures from the fields of culture, literature and politics.
For more information on 2012 winners and their works, visit euprizeliterature.eu
Follow @EUPrizeforLiter on Twitter
Image credits – from left to right, top to bottom.
Anna Kim-Austria-by Roland Dreger
Lada Žigo-Croatia-by BoRa
Viktor Horváth-Hungary-by László Tóth
Laurence Plazenet-France-byCatherine Hélie
Kevin Barry-Ireland-No credits
Emanuele Trevi-Italy-by Simone Caltabellota
Giedra Radvilavičiūtė-Lithuania-by Vladas Braziūnas
Gunstein Bakke-Norway-by Christian Elgvin
Piotr Paziński-Poland-by Aleksandra Karasinka
Afonso Cruz-Portugal-Self portrait
Sara Mannheimer-Sweden-by Helén Karlsso
Jana Beňová-Slovakia-by Marek Kedzierski