EBRD Literature Prize
The EBRD Literature Prize is a literary prize established in 2017 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in cooperation with the British Council. It was first awarded in 2018. As per the bank, the prize celebrates the "literary richness" of its regions of operation, which include almost 40 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa.[1].
Each year, the prize is awarded for a novel or collection of short stories by a single author translated into English from a language of a country where the EBRD invests. From the works submitted for consideration, ten are shortlisted, from which three are later chosen as finalists. The final winner is revealed at an awards ceremony and awarded €20,000, which is shared equally between the writer and translator. The authors and translators of the two other finalist books receive €2,000 each.
The prize is now entirely funded by the bank’s shareholders through its Community Initiative.
Entries are judged by an independent panel, composed of a chair and two or three other judges. The chair is in post for three years; the other judges are appointed yearly.
Rosie Goldsmith was chair of judges 2018–2020 and Toby Lichtig 2021–2023. Maya Jaggi is chair 2024–2026.
The inaugural winner of the EBRD Literature Prize was Istanbul Istanbul,[2] by the Turkish writer Burhan Sönmez, translated by Ümit Hussein.
Winners and nominees
= winner
| Year | Title | Author | Translator | Publisher | Language | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Istanbul Istanbul |
Burhan Sönmez | Ümit Hussein | Telegram Books | Turkish | Winner |
| All the World's a Stage | Boris Akunin | Andrew Bromfield | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | Russian | Shortlist | |
| Belladonna | Daša Drndic | Celia Hawkesworth | MacLehose Press/Quercus | Croatian | ||
| The Traitor's Niche | Ismail Kadare | John Hodgson | Penguin Books | Albanian | ||
| The Red-Haired Woman | Orhan Pamuk | Ekin Oklap | Faber & Faber | Turkish | ||
| Maryam: Keeper of Stories | Alawiya Sobh | Nirvana Tanoukhi | Seagull Books | Arabic | ||
| In the Name of the Father | Balla | Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood | Jantar Publishing | Slovak | Longlist | |
| About My Mother | Tahar Ben Jelloun | Ros Schwartz and Lulu Norman | Saqi/Telegram | French | ||
| The Equestrienne | Uršuľa Kovalyk | Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood | Parthian Books | Slovak | ||
| The Bickford Fuse | Andrey Kurkov | Boris Dralyuk | MacLehose Press/Quercus | Russian | ||
| Women Who Blow on Knots | Ece Temelkuran | Alexander Dawe | Parthian Books | Turkish | ||
| Hair Everywhere | Tea Tulić | Coral Petkovich | Istros Books | Croatian | ||
| 2019 | The Devils' Dance |
Hamid Ismailov | Donald Rayfield, with John Farndon | Tilted Axis Press | Uzbek | Winner |
| Soviet Milk | Nora Ikstena | Margita Gaelitis | Peirene Press | Latvian | Shortlist | |
| Drive Your Plow | Olga Tokarczuk | Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Fitzcarraldo Editions | Polish | ||
| Lala | Jacek Dehnel | Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Oneworld Publications | Polish | Longlist | |
| My Name Is Adam | Elias Khoury | Humphrey Davies | MacLehose Press | Arabic | ||
| The Clash of Images | Abdelfattah Kilito | Robyn Cresswell | Darf Publishers | French (Moroccan) | ||
| The Peace Machine | Özgür Mumcu | Mark David Wyers | Pushkin Press | Turkish | ||
| The Aviator | Eugene Vodolazkin | Lisa C. Hayden | Oneworld Publications | Russian | ||
| The Book of Whispers | Varujan Vosganian | Alastair Ian Blyth | Yale University Press | Romanian | ||
| Shatila Stories | Various authors | Nashwa Gowanlock | Peirene Press | Arabic | ||
| 2020 | Devilspel |
Grigory Kanovich | Yisrael Elliot Cohen | Noir Press | Russian | Winner |
| Pixel | Krisztina Tóth | Owen Good | Seagull Books | Hungarian | Shortlist | |
| Zuleikha | Guzel Yakhina | Lisa C. Hayden | Oneworld Publications | Russian | ||
| Not Saying Goodbye | Boris Akunin | Andrew Bromfield | Orion Publishing Group | Russian | Longlist | |
| Sacred Darkness | Levan Berdzenishvili | Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner | Europa Editions | Russian translation from Georgian | ||
| Mrs Mohr Goes Missing | Jacek Dehnel | Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Oneworld Publications | Polish | ||
| Bellevue | Ivana Dobrakovová | Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood | Jantar Publishing | Slovak | ||
| ICE | Sonallah Ibrahim | Margaret Litvin | Seagull Books | Arabic | ||
| Every Fire You Tend | Sema Kaygusuz | Nicholas Glastonbury | Tilted Axis Press | Turkish | ||
| Under Pressure | Faruk Šehić | Mirza Purić | Istros Books | Bosnian | ||
| 2021 | The King of Warsaw |
Szczepan Twardoch | Sean Gasper Bye | Amazon Crossing | Polish | Winner |
| The Pear Field | Nana Ekvtimishvili | Elizabeth Heighway | Peirene Press | Georgian | Shortlist | |
| Mr K Released | Matei Vișniec | Jozefina Komporaly | Seagull Books | Romanian | ||
| Love in the Days of Rebellion | Ahmet Altan | Brendan Freely and Yelda Türedi | Europa Editions | Turkish | Longlist | |
| Grey Bees | Andrey Kurkov | Boris Dralyuk | MacLehose/Quercus | Russian | ||
| Carbide | Andriy Lyubka | Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stockhouse Wheeler | Jantar Publishing | Ukrainian | ||
| Hana | Alena Mornštajnová | Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood | Parthian Books | Czech | ||
| No-Signal Area | Robert Perišić | Ellen Elias-Bursac | Seven Stories Press | Croatian | ||
| The Highly Unreliable Account of the History of a Madhouse | Ayfer Tunç | Feyza Howell | Istros Books | Turkish | ||
| Your Ad Could Go Here | Oksana Zabuzhko | Nina Murray, Marta Horban, Marco Carynnyk, Halyna Hryn, and Askold Melnyczuk | Amazon Crossing | Ukrainian | ||
| 2022 | The Orphanage |
Serhiy Zhadan | Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler | Yale University Press | Ukrainian | Winner |
| The Book of Katerina | Auguste Corteau | Claire Papamichail | Parthian Books | Greek | Shortlist | |
| Boat Number Five | Monika Kompaníková | Janet Livingstone | Seagull Books | Slovak | ||
| Doctor Bianco and Other Stories | Maciek Bielawski | Scotia Gilroy | Terra Librorum | Polish | Longlist | |
| Birds of Verhovina | Ádám Bodor | Peter Sherwood | Jantar Publishing | Hungarian | ||
| Red Crosses | Sasha Filipenko | Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner | Europa Editions | Russian | ||
| City of Torment | Daniela Hodrová | Veronique Firkusny and Elena Sokol | Jantar Publishing | Czech | ||
| Manaschi | Hamid Ismailov | Donald Rayfield | Tilted Axis Press | Uzbek | ||
| Karolina, or the Torn Curtain | Maryla Szymiczkowa | Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Oneworld Publications | Polish | ||
| Just the Plague | Ludmila Ulitskaya | Polly Gannon | Granta | Russian | ||
| 2023 | The Lake |
Bianca Bellová | Alex Zucker | Parthian Books | Czech | Winner |
| Mister N | Najwa Barakat | Luke Leafgren | And Other Stories | Arabic | Finalists | |
| The Books of Jacob | Olga Tokarczuk | Jennifer Croft | Fitzcarraldo Editions | Polish | ||
| Mothers and Truckers | Ivana Dobrakovová | Julia and Peter Sherwood | Jantar Publishing | Slovak | Shortlist | |
| Invisible Woman and Other Stories | Slavenka Drakulić | Christina Pribichevich Zorić with Jacob Agee | Fraktura | Croatian | ||
| Time Shelter | Georgi Gospodinov | Angela Rodel | Bulgarian | |||
| According to Her | Maciej Hen | Anna Blasiak | Holland House Books | Polish | ||
| Body Kintsugi | Senka Marić | Celia Hawkesworth | Peirene Press | Bosnian | ||
| Nights of Plague | Orhan Pamuk | Ekin Oklap | Faber & Faber | Turkish | ||
| Mondegreen | Volodymyr Rafeienko | Mark Andryczyk | HURI Books | Ukrainian | ||
| 2024 | The End |
Attila Bartis | Judith Sollosy | Archipelago Books | Hungarian | Winner |
| The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales | Ferit Edgü | Aron Aji | New York Review of Books | Turkish | Finalists | |
| Barcode | Krisztina Tóth | Peter Sherwood | Jantar Publishing | Hungarian | ||
| Niki | Christos Chomenidis | Patricia Felisa Barbeito | Other Press | Greek | Shortlist | |
| Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv | Andrey Kurkov | Reuben Woolley | MacLehose Press | Russian | ||
| Exiled Shadow | Norman Manea | Carla Baricz | Yale University Press | Romanian | ||
| History of Ash | Khadija Marouazi | Alexander E. Elinson | Hoopoe | Arabic | ||
| Let's Go Home, Son | Ivica Prtenjača | David Williams | Istros Books | Croatian | ||
| This Thing Called Love | Alawiya Sobh | Max Weiss | Seagull Books | Arabic | ||
| A Sensitive Person | Jáchym Topol | Alex Zucker | Yale University Press | Czech | ||
| 2025 | Sons, Daughters |
Ivana Bodrožić | Ellen Elias-Bursać | Seven Stories Press UK | Croatian | Winner |
| Forgottenness | Tanja Maljartschuk | Zenia Tompkins | Bullaun Press (Ireland) Liveright (US) | Ukrainian | Finalists | |
| The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story | Olga Tokarczuk | Antonia Lloyd-Jones | Fitzcarraldo Editions | Polish | ||
| The Ukraine | Artem Chapeye | Zenia Tompkins | Seven Stories Press UK | Ukrainian | Shortlist | |
| Too Great A Sky | Liliana Corobca | Monica Cure | Seven Stories Press UK | Romanian | ||
| Engagement | Ҫiler İlhan | Kenneth Dakan | Istros Books | Turkish | ||
| My Women | Yuliia Iliukha | Hanna Leliv | 128 LIT | Ukrainian | ||
| Celebration | Damir Karakaš | Ellen Elias-Bursać | Selkies House Limited | Croatian | ||
| Herscht 07769 | László Krasznahorkai | Ottilie Mulzet | New Directions Publishing | Hungarian | ||
| Life After Kafka | Magdaléna Platzová | Alex Zucker | Bellevue Literary Press | Czech |
References
- ^ "EBRD Literature Prize overview". ebrd.com. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
- ^ Carpenter, Caroline (11 April 2018). "Love song to Istanbul scoops €20k EBRD prize". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2021-03-17.