Jānis Joņevs collection of stories “Tiger” has been recognized as the best prose work of the year

On Friday, the winners of the “Latvian Literature of the Year Award 2021” in five categories were unveiled and awarded in the LALIGABA awards program on the channel “LTV1”, the winners of the special prize – the prose readings 2020 team led by writer Inga Žolude writer Lalita Muižniece and literary critic Gunārs Bībers.

In the final vote of the LALIGABA expert commission on the winner of the LALIGABA award in the nomination “Best Poetic Work”, Amanda Aizpuriete’s collection of poems “Before Leaving”, which was published by Neputns, was recognized. Jānis Elsbergs’ selection of poetry “Kodiens”, translated from English by Jānis Elsbergs, published by Neputns, triumphed in the nomination “The Best Translation of Foreign Literature”.

In the nomination “The Best Original Literary Work for Children”, the leader of the vote became Marta Pujāts’ collection of poetry “Ej nu ej”, published by the publishing house “Liels un mazs”. Andris Kalnozols’ novel “Kalendārs mani sauc”, published by Orbīta, was recognized as the most promising application in Latvian literature this year in the nomination “The Brightest Debut”.

The winners were presented with LALIGABA lamps created by the design studio “Mājo”, as well as cash prizes.

The LALIGABA special award was given to the team of the festival “Prose Readings 2020” led by the writer Žolude for a grand contribution to the festival in the conditions of a pandemic, uniting prose authors and readers in the digital environment. In 2020, the festival took place for the 25th time and for the first time in its history it took place online, providing a diverse program, saturated with topical discussion topics and prose readings, reaching an even wider audience. The cash prize has been awarded for the organization of the next festival.

Winners of the LALIGABA Lifetime Achievement Award – linguist and writer Muižniece for lifelong contribution to strengthening Latvianness, popularization of Latvian literature, folklore and language, and literary scholar Bieber for lifelong contribution to the study of Latvian literature and dramaturgy.

The LALIGABA presentation program was created by the creative team of the association “Ascendum” and the magazine “Satori” and the director of the program Liene Linde. It was conducted by poets Toms Treibergs and Marija Luīze Melke, the scenography was created by Berta Vilipsone, the music of Edgars Mākens was played, and Miķelis Putniņš performed a special composition composed for the ceremony.

Viška pointed out that the motto of this year’s award “Joy and Sorrow” confirms the power of literature to survive even the most gloomy times, providing an opportunity to shelter from what is happening around, allowing travel in time and space, as well as finding comfort and better understanding of the world.

LALIGABA is the most important annual event in the field of literature in Latvia, it provides a professional evaluation of literary works and recognition of the authors for the most outstanding works published in Latvian literature during the year. The award is taken care of and organized jointly by the International House of Writers and Translators and the Latvian Writers’ Union.

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