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EBRD Literature Prize 2024: shortlist announced
- Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv by Andrey Kurkov, translated from the Russian by Reuben Woolley and published by MacLehose Press
Let’s Go Home, Son by Ivica Prtenjača, translated from the Croatian by David Williams and published by Istros Books
The compelling novels and short stories are by writers from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Morocco, Romania, Türkiye and Ukraine, representing several of the Bank’s countries and regions of operation. The works were chosen by three independent judges: award-winning writer and critic, Maya Jaggi (chair); novelist and translator, Maureen Freely; and author and professor of international law, Philippe Sands.
Unveiling the shortlist at a special event at the Oxford Literary Festival in the United Kingdom with last year’s winners, Dr Jaggi said: “Our shortlist is testimony to the vigour, inventiveness and imaginative breadth of fiction emerging from often troubled regions of the world. From the lyric to the epic, the picaresque to the carnivalesque, these books swept us from Moroccan dungeons and the snowy Turkish mountains to encounters with a Czech theatre troupe on the run and ageing Ukrainian rockers innocently unaware of the cataclysm to come. We found humour in abundance, tenderness and always a stubborn insistence on memory. Among the persistent themes were the psychological scars of authoritarianism, a Europe marred by erupting xenophobia, trepidation at Russian expansionism long before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the sullen resentments and quiet rapprochements between fathers and sons."
The Chair of the EBRD Community Initiative Steering Group, Edward Bannerman, said: “In 2024 it feels more important than ever to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding. We’re very pleased to have opened up the Prize to North American publishers this year in addition to European ones and to broaden the opportunity for more great writing to reach a global, English-reading audience. We had a record number of submissions and we’re proud of the chance to champion authors from across our regions and their translators, in equal measure.”
Three finalists for the Prize will be announced in late April and the winning author and two runners-up, along with their translators, will be declared on 13 June at an awards ceremony and reception at the EBRD’s headquarters in London.
More information about the Prize can be found here: EBRD Literature Prize overview