EU Prize for Literature 2017 winners announced

The 12 winners are:

Rudi Erebara (Albania) for Epika e yjeve të mëngjesit (The Epic of the Morning Stars)

Ina Vultchanova (Bulgaria) for Остров Крах (The Crack-Up Island)

Bianca Bellová (Czech Republic) for Jezero (The Lake)

Kallia Papadaki (Greece) for Δενδρίτες (Dendrites)

Halldóra K. Thoroddsen (Iceland) for Tvöfalt gler (Double Glazing)

Osvalds Zebris (Latvia) for Gaiļu kalna ēnā (In the Shadow of Rooster Hill)

Walid Nabhan (Malta) for L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji (Exodus of Storks)

Aleksandar Bečanović (Montenegro) for Arcueil

Jamal Ouariachi (The Netherlands) for Een Honger (A Hunger)

Darko Tuševljaković (Serbia) for Jaz (The Chasm)

Sine Ergün (Turkey) for Baştankara (Chikadee)

Sunjeev Sahota (United Kingdom) for The Year of the Runaways

The EU Prize for Literature (EUPL) recognises exceptional up-and-coming literary talents across Europe. It highlights the wealth of contemporary European literature and sheds light on Europe's rich cultural and linguistic heritage.

Every year, expert national juries from one third of the countries participating in Creative Europe nominate authors based on specific criteria. The 12 winners each receive a cash prize of €5,000 and, more importantly, benefit from greater international visibility and cross-border promotion, starting at the awards ceremony in Brussels and continuing at Europe’s major book fairs.

The EUPL is organised by a consortium made up of the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), the European Writers' Council (EWC) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), with the support of the European Commission. All countries taking part in Creative Europe may participate in the prize.

Award ceremony

Tibor Navracsics, the European Commissioner for Education, Youth Sport and Culture, high-level representatives of the European Parliament and of the Maltese Council Presidency of the EU will present the winning authors with their awards during a public ceremony on 23 May at Concert Noble, in Brussels.

Literary translation

Creative Europe, the EU funding programme for the creative and cultural sectors, offers specific funding for literary translations. Between 2014 and 2016, the programme has supported the translation of about 1,400 books, from and into more than 30 European languages, including the works of as many as 58 previous EUPL winners, some of which are being translated for the first time. You can find examples of translation projects have that received EU funding on Creative Europe Project Results.