There are 10 novels that have entered the semifinals of the Young Writers’ Competition / Article

After a two-week evaluation process, they are known 10 new authorswho continue to fight for the publication of their novel. Excerpts from the works of the young writers were read by both the jury and each member of the public had the opportunity to participate in the public in the vote. The next (third) round of evaluation will continue until October 25, when the three final works will be announced, which will be submitted to the publisher for review, the organizers of the competition informed. –

Of the 122 young writers who applied for the competition in the spring, novels were submitted 45 participants, and only 10 of them have passed the second round of evaluation and reached the semi-finals.

Authors and works submitted for further evaluation are (the order is not informative):

• Anna Marija Serģe, “I want to show you something”
• Dace Ribena, “Red and Black Sound”
• E.Brunghurds, “How to summon demon friends”
• Chrome, “Our Class Flight”
• Karina Stern, “Sea Pomegranate”
• Laura Lūse, “Purples of Purple”
• Linda Skranda, “Cities”
• Stārastniece, “Before You Woke Up”
• Toms Deimonds Barvidis, “Green Deep”
• Violanta, “Promised to a dream thief”

The competition is designed to promote the growth of young Latvian prose writers. The winner’s work will receive financial support – 3000 euros – from the initiator of the project “Library”, a long-term patron of Latvian literature “Baltic International Bank” for publishing a novel in Dienas Kirja publishing house, paid publicity within the project “Library”, as well as the opportunity to spend one calendar month at the International Writers and translators’ house in Ventspils.

“The works submitted to the competition are different, which seems to be self-evident if each author is a personality,” reveals literary critic and cultural journalist Jūlija Dibovska, one of the members of the Young Writers’ Competition Jury.

“Impression of independence, variety of interests and character. There are both literary works of the genre (more commercial) and those that are more difficult to include on a certain shelf.

It is felt that many texts are diligently cherished and literally taken from the author’s individual world and target shelf. In my opinion, each author has also read a certain amount of text himself, because the breath and influence of world literature can be felt. What many works have in common is that every text needs a clever editor who can help both with the language and support and praise it where necessary. Language must be nurtured by all. It is positive that these texts have been created.

So there are still a large number of people who, perhaps busy with completely different tasks on a daily basis, cannot not write, cannot build new worlds and are obviously also trying to be interesting to someone. ”

About the project “Library”

The competition for young writers is an initiative of the fourth season of the reading promotion project “Library”. The project “Library” is a social project initiated by the Latvian literary patron “Baltic International Bank” with the aim to promote reading and writing in Latvia. The “Library” started its operation in 2018, publishing a series of interviews with significant figures in Latvian literature and culture about the value of literature in human life. Thanks to the wide public response and involvement, in 2019 the project was continued with the creation of the traveling exhibition “Family Book”, while in 2020 a series was created for families with young children “Love the book!” and the publication “Family Coats of Arms in Modern Latvia” was published. Within the framework of the project, initiatives and appeals are regularly developed for various groups of the society, with the aim to pay attention to literature as an inherited value and to promote the development of reading habits in the society.

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