The term “European literature” here covers the fiction, drama and poetry produced in the continental Europe. Consequently, British literature is excluded and reported about in its own category.
To see all the latest literary awards news, see the front page of The Burnt Ones: Literary Awards News.
Per Petterson wins International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Date: June 18, 2007 | Discussion: 2 Comments
Norwegian novelist Per Petterson has been awarded the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel Out Stealing Horses. The €100,000 award is the world’s largest literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English, and is chosen by a panel of international judges from a shortlist of over a hundred (this year 138) novels nominated by libraries from around the world.
Out Stealing Horses
by Per Petterson
Trond’s friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on “borrowed†horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day—an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys. Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer. …
You can read more about Out Stealing Horses at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca.
Filed under English literature, European literature, Fiction, Novels, Winners, World literature
Antonio Gamoneda receives the Cervantes Prize
Date: April 26, 2007 | Discussion: No Comments
Spanish poet Antonio Gamoneda has been awarded Spain’s top literature award, the Cervantes Prize. The winner of the 90,000 euro lifetime achievement award is chosen annually by the Spanish Ministry of Culture from candidates nominated by the various Language Academies of Spanish speaking countries around the world.
Gamoneda, who had his first works published in the 1960s, is perhaps best known for his 1987 National Poetry Prize winning collection “Edad”, which collected the poet’s finest works so far. He is also known for his translations of foreign poets.
Only some of Gamoneda’s collections have been translated into English. See Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for more information.
Filed under European literature, Lifetime awards, Poetry, Winners, World literature
2006 Finlandia Prize winner announced
Date: December 8, 2006 | Discussion: No Comments
The 2006 Finlandia Prize — Finland’s most prestigious literary award — has been given to Kjell Westö for his Swedish language novel Där vi en gÃ¥ng gÃ¥tt (”Where we once walked”).
The novel, which is set in the early 20th century Helsinki has not been translated into English, although some of his earlier work, most notably Lang are available. You can read more about Westö’s work at Amazon.com and at Amazon.co.uk.
Filed under European literature, Fiction, Novels, Winners, World literature
2006 Miguel de Cervantes Prize winner announced
Date: December 1, 2006 | Discussion: 1 Comment
Antonio Gamoneda has been awarded the 2006 Miguel de Cervates Prize, which annually recognises the lifetime work of a poet who writes in Spanish. The prize, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, is worth $120,000.
Gamoneda, who was born in 1931 and published his first collection in 1960, is perhaps best known for Libro del frÃo (1992) and Arden las pérdidas (2003). To the best of my knowledge, none of his works are available in English.
Filed under European literature, Lifetime awards, Poetry, Winners, World literature
2006 Guardian First Book shortlist announced
Date: November 3, 2006 | Discussion: No Comments
Shortlist for this year’s Guardian First Book Award has been announced. In the competition for the £10,000 prize, awarded annually for the best fiction or non-fiction book by a debut author, are:
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
by Yiyun Li
In this extraordinary first collection, Yiyun Li brings us a modern China facing up to a complex history of repression and guilt. In “Immortality”, winner of the Paris Review prize, a young man bears a striking resemblance to the dictator, and so finds a strange kind of calling. In “Extra”, first published in the New Yorker, a Chinese woman, alone in middle age, befriends a young boy who has become an outcast in a remote country school. …
You can read more about A Thousand Years of Good Prayers at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living
by Carrie Tiffany
In this sensual, witty, and startlingly original first novel, Jean Finnegan searches for her place in a tumultuous world wracked by the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. Carrie Tiffany captures the frailty and beauty of the human condition and vividly evokes the hope and disappointment of an era. …
You can read more about Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
In the Country of Men
by Hisham Matar
Shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, Matar’s debut novel tracks the effects of Libyan strongman Khadafy’s 1969 September revolution on the el-Dawani family, as seen by nine-year-old Suleiman, who narrates as an adult. …
You can read more about In the Country of Men at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Harbor
by Lorraine Adams
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lorraine Adams has crafted a debut novel worthy of any seasoned novelist’s pen. Harbor is as current as the headlines, chronicling the desperate, confused, marginal lives of a group of Arab Muslims in Boston, Montreal, and Brooklyn. …
You can read more about Harbor at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Poppy Shakespeare
by Clare Allan
Highly original and darkly funny, Clare Allan’s debut novel explores the relationship between N., a patient in a mental institution, and Poppy Shakespeare, a new and disturbingly ’sane’ arrival who finds herself having to feign mental illness in order to be released. …
You can read more about Poppy Shakespeare at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Filed under British literature, English literature, European literature, Fiction, Novels, Short stories, Shortlists, World literature
2006 Prix Femina winners announced
Date: October 31, 2006 | Discussion: 4 Comments
The winners of the 2006 Prix Femina prize have been announced. The literary prize, created in 1904, is awarded annually by an all-female panel to the best novel published in French. The award also recognizes non-French work in a separate category.
Lignes de faille
by Nancy Huston
In the main category, The Prix Femina was given to the Canadian-born writer Nancy Huston for her novel Lignes de Faille (Faultlines). The novel, about four six-year-olds who each are the parent of the next one, is not yet published in English. Nancy Huston has lived in Paris since the early 1970s.
The Story of Chicago May
by Nuala O’Faolain
The Prix Femina Etranger, awarded for the best non-French writing of the year, was meanwhile given to Nuala O’Faolain for her novel The Story of Chicago May. The novel is about the notorious Irish thief and prostitute Chicago May.
You can read more about The Story of Chicago May at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
