European Book Prize
The European Book Prize (Template:Lang-fr) is a European Union literary award established in 2007, organized by the association Esprit d'Europe in Paris. It seeks to promote European values, and to contribute to European citizens' better understanding of the European Union as a cultural entity.
Eligible books must have been published in one of the 28 European Union (EU) member-states in the preceding year, in the original language or a translation. Works are submitted in one of two categories: essai (which in French means something broader than the English "essay") and romans et recits ("novels and narratives").[1] A long list is drawn up by the organizers in Paris, the number varies but for example in 2011 there were 50 essais plus 47 romans et recits.[1] These are then sent to a "sponsorship committee" which narrows it down to about a seven title shortlist, which are then given to a new committee of judges, composed of journalists and authors.[1]
The European Book Prize is organised by the association Esprit d'Europe and was founded by France Rouqe, Luce Perrot and François-Xavier Priollaud. The prize is worth 10,000 euros to each winner, the first two years had one winner only who received 20,000 euros.
Winners
The inaugural European Book Prize was awarded to Belgium's prime minister Guy Verhofstadt for United States of Europe. The ceremony was held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 December 2007.
Swedish crime fiction writer Henning Mankell handed the prize to the winner. While giving the prize, Mankell said that the jury was sensitive to the political courage showed by the current prime minister of Belgium. He added that in a Europe which has a lot of self-doubt, which has a lot of questions about its own future, Guy Verhofstadt offered a clear proposal for the future. He gave reasons to believe in European constitution.
While receiving the reward Verhofstadt said, "When I wrote this book, I in fact meant it as a provocation against all those who didn't want the European Constitution. Fortunately, in the end a solution was found with the treaty, that was approved." [2]
Year | Category | English title | Original title | Author | Nationality | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | — | United States of Europe | De Verenigde Staten van Europa: manifest voor een nieuw Europa | Guy Verhofstadt | Belgium | |
2008 | — | Postwar | Postwar | Tony Judt | United Kingdom | |
2009 | Fiction | Gottland | Gottland | Mariusz Szczygieł | Poland | |
Non-fiction | Europe for Dummies | L'Europe pour les Nuls | Sylvie Goulard | France | ||
2010 | Fiction | Purge | Puhdistus | Sofi Oksanen | Finland | |
Non-fiction | Beauty and the Inferno | La bellezza e l'inferno | Roberto Saviano | Italy | ||
2011 | Fiction | Haltet euer Herz bereit: eine ostdeutsche Familiengeschichte | Maxim Leo | Germany | [1] | |
Non-fiction | The Crime and the Silence | My z Jedwabnego | Anna Bikont | Poland | [1] | |
2012 | Fiction | Madonna on the moon | Wie die Madonna auf den Mond kam | Rolf Bauerdick | Germany | |
Non-fiction | Europe’s passage | Le Passage à l’Europe | Luuk van Middelaar | Netherlands | ||
2013 | Fiction | An Englishman in Madrid | Riña de gatos | Eduardo Mendoza | Spain | [3] |
Non-fiction | The French, gravediggers of the euro | Ces Français, fossoyeurs de l’euro | Arnaud Leparmentier | France | [3] | |
2014 | Fiction | Hannah's Dress | La robe de Hannah | Pascale Hugues | France | [4] |
Non-fiction | Turbulent and Mighty Continent | Turbulent and Mighty Continent | Anthony Giddens | United Kingdom | ||
2015 | Fiction | Vera | Jean-Pierre Orban | Belgium | [5] | |
Non-fiction | Der Europäische Landbote | Robert Menasse | Austria | |||
2016 | Fiction | The Impostor | El impostor | Javier Cercas | Spain | |
Non-fiction | Le Plus et le Moins | Erri De Luca | Italy | |||
2017 | Fiction | Zink | David Van Reybrouck | Belgium | [6] | |
Non-fiction | Si la démocratie fait faillite | Raffaele Simone | Italy |
References
- ^ a b c d e Julian Barnes. "Judging the European Book prize for 2011", The Guardian, 16 December 2011
- ^ "EuroNews TV Report of 5 December 2007". Euronews.net. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ "British Lord wins European Book Prize with plea to make EU stronger", euractiv.com, 8 January 2015, accessed 30 January 2017
- ^ "European Book Prize 2015", Cafebabel, 21 December 2015, accessed 30 January 2017
- ^ "David Van Reybrouck wins the European Book Prize". Focus on Belgium. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.