Four works by Latvian authors nominated for EU prize in literature The news

Riga, April 18, LETA. Four works by Latvian authors have been nominated for the European Union (EU) Prize in Literature – Jana Egle’s “Birthday”, Laura Vinogradova’s “River”, Rasa Bugavičute-Poe’s “The Boy Who Saw in the Dark” and Sven Kuzmina’s “Hohma” (LRS) representative Christian Shuksta.

She said that the EU Prize for Literature annually highlights authors of fiction from all over Europe. It is given to young authors who demonstrate convincing performance in prose with their work. 41 countries are fighting for the prize, rotating every three years. This year, 55 books from 14 countries have been nominated – Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and Tunisia.

Each country’s shortlist is submitted by its national jury. It is made up of publishers, writers and booksellers, as well as members of the public. The jury is chosen by a consortium of prize organizers in Brussels. This year, the Latvian jury includes Renāte Puntka, a representative of the publishing house “Jānis Roze”, and Inga Bodnarjuka-Mrazauskas, a representative of the “Latvian Literature” platform, Kristīne Pīkenena represents Latvian booksellers, and Santa Remere, a cultural journalist, represents the mass media. The chairman of the jury is the writer and the chairman of the LRS Arno Jundze.

The EU Prize for Literature was first announced in 2009 and will be presented for the 13th time this year. Funded by the Creative Europe Program, the prize aims to identify new literary talent across Europe, to promote the dissemination and translation of literature between different European countries, and to highlight European creativity and diversity. So far, three authors have received the award from Latvia – Inga Žolude, Jānis Joņevs and Osvalds Zebris.

This year, the winners will be named at a virtual awards ceremony on May 18.

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