Vasyl Makhno and Andriy Bachynsky win the two prizes
BBC Ukrainian today announced the winners of its Book of the Year 2015 awards presented in partnership with the Cultural Programme of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“The House by Bating Hallow” by Vasyl Makhno (“Дім у Бейтінг Голлов” Василь Махно) was named the BBC Book of the Year 2015 while Andriy Bachynsky’s “140 Decibels of Silence” (“140 децибелів тиші” Андрій Бачинський) won the BBC Children’s Book of the Year 2015 accolade.
Artyom Liss, Editor, Europe, BBC World Service Languages, said: ‘Having read “The House by Bating Hallow”, I feel really pleased to share the joy which this book brought me. Vasyl Makhno’s light, bright and profound prose deserves to be read by as many people as possible.
'I really hope that winning the title of BBC Book of the Year will help this book find even more readers, and I wish Mr Makhno inspiration and creative power.’
Francis Malige, EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, commented on the BBC Children’s Book 2015: ‘”140 Decibels of Silence” is a book full of adventure. Its main characters come from an orphanage for deaf children, and the book’s dynamic story immerses readers into the lives of these characters, a boy and a girl.
'We are happy to support a book that opens the minds of children to the lives of people that are different. We all know how far this goes to promoting diversity in the future.’
The Reader of the Year 2015 award for the best reader reviews, went to Yevgen Ivanchenko - for the review of “The Carbide” by Andriy Lyubka, and to Olena Nesterenko – for the review of “140 Decibels of Silence” by Andriy Bachynsky.
The BBC Book of the Year 2015 awards was judged by:
- Vira Ageyeva, professor, Ukraine National University “Kiev-Mohyla Academy”
- Olga Gerasymiuk, journalist
- Svitlana Pyrkalo, writer, EBRD Cultural Advisor
- Marta Shokalo, Desk Editor, BBC Ukrainian
- Yuriy Volodarskiy, literary critic.
The two winning authors are awarded a Ukrainian hryvnya equivalent of £1,000 for each book. The publishers of the two winning books of the year 2015 will have the right to use the logos of the BBC Ukrainian book awards on subsequent editions.
