The EBRD is pleased to announce the launch of the EBRD Literature Prize 2019, in partnership with the British Council. The Prize will recognise the extraordinary richness and variety of cultures and history in the EBRD region – a region stretching across central and eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans, Turkey, the southern and eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa.
The EBRD Literature Prize 2019 will be awarded to the year’s best work of literary fiction translated into English and originally written in any language of the EBRD’s 38 countries of operations and published by a UK publisher.
The Prize is one of the few international literature prizes which recognises both author and translator. It highlights the importance of the writer in voicing the hopes, aspirations and challenges facing people across our regions. But just as importantly, the Prize acknowledges the talent and key role of the translator in making the stories from these countries accessible to the English-speaking public.
About the prize
The EBRD Literature Prize acknowledges a translated work of literary fiction written originally in any language from an EBRD country of operations and published by a UK publisher. The first prize of €20,000 is equally divided between the winning author and translator. Two runners-up and their translators will receive a prize of €1,000 each. All three finalists and their translators for the EBRD Literature Prize 2019 will be invited to London to participate in an award ceremony and discussion at EBRD headquarters in March 2019.
EBRD Literature Prize 2018
The first EBRD Literature Prize was won by the Turkish author Burhan Sönmez and his translator Ümit Hussein for the novel ‘Istanbul, Istanbul’. The Prize attracted a wealth of submissions and has introduced readers to a wide range of literature from countries as diverse as Albania, Croatia, Morocco, Russia and Turkey.
Read more about the finalists and the shortlisted titles from the first EBRD Literature Prize 2018 here.