EBRD Literature Prize 2019 nominees

For the second year running, the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is awarding the EBRD Literature Prize. For those of you not familiar with the EBRD, it was established right after the fall of the USSR in order to facilitate financing for the re-building of the neglected and largely dilapidated economies of the former Eastern bloc. The EBRD’s mission was further broadened after the Arab spring to include also the Northern Africa region.

As part of its mission, the EBRD has also identified the virtues of supporting cultural exchange between the 38 countries in its area of operation and funds several cultural projects. A year ago, the bank added the EBRD Literature Prize, which is administered in cooperation with the British Council, to its toolbox. The monetary value of the prize is EUR 20,000 to be equally distributed between the author and the translator. Eligible entries are work of fiction originally written in one of the languages of the bank’s area of operation, translated to English and published in the UK.  Last year’s winner was “Istanbul, Istanbul” by Turkish writer Burhan Sönmez and the translator Ümit Hussein.

The nominees for the 2019 prize were released today and are:

• ·         “Lala”, author Jacek Dehnel (Polish), translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• ·         “Soviet Milk”, author Nora Ikstena (Latvian), translator Margita Gaeltis
• ·         “The Devil’s Dance”, author Hamid Ismailov (Uzbek), translator Donald Reyfield
• ·         “My Name is Adam”, author Elias Khoury (Arabic), translator Humphrey Davis
• ·         “The Clash of Imagies”, author Abdelfattah Kilito (French), translator Robyn Cresswell
• ·         “The Peace Machine”, author Özgür Mumcu (Turkish), translator Mark David Wyers
• ·         “Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”, author Olga Tokarczuk (Polish), translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• ·         “The Aviator”, author Eugene Vodolazkin (Russian), translator Lisa C. Hayden
• ·         “The Book of Whispers”, author Varujan Vozganian (Romanian), translator Alastair Ian Blyth
• ·         “Shatila Stories”, short story collection by nine authors (Arabic), translator Nashwa Gowanlock

The winner will be announced on the 7^th of March. More information on the EBRD website