Writer receives EU Prize for Literature

BRUSSELS - Hürriyet Daily News

The winners of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature, which recognizes the best new or emerging authors in the EU, were announced yesterday at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Turkish writer Çiler İlhan was among the winners for her book of short stories “Sürgün” (Exile).

Other winners were Kalin Terziyski (Bulgaria), Tomas Zmeskal (Czech Republic), Kostas Hatziantoniou (Greece), Ofeigur Sigurosson (Iceland), Inga Zolude (Latvia), Iren Nigg (Liechtenstein), Immanuel Mifsud (Malta), Andrej Nikolaidis (Montenegro), Rodaan Al Galidi (Netherlands), Jelena Lengold (Serbia) and Adam Foulds (United Kingdom). Each winner received 5,000 euros and the opportunity to have their books translated into other languages to boost cross-border appeal.

“I congratulate the exceptional winners of this year’s prize and I hope that they will make use of our support for ‘literary translation’ so that as many readers as possible can enjoy their books, in as many languages as possible,” said Androulla Vassiliou, European commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth.

The European Union Prize for Literature is organized by the European Commission, the European Booksellers’ Federation, European Writers’ Council and the Federation of European Publishers. The competition is open to the 36 countries involved in the EU Culture Program, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Each year national juries in 12 of the participating countries nominate authors so that all countries in the program are represented over a three-year period.

This year’s winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Brussels on Nov. 28 in the presence of Commissioner Vassiliou and leading public figures from the worlds of literature, culture and politics.