Wyld among winners of 2014 EU Prize for Literature

9 October 2014 Books+Publishing

Australian born, UK-based author Evie Wyld has won the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature, along with 12 other authors from European countries.

Established in 2009 by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Booksellers’ Federation, the European Writers’ Council and the Federation of European Publishers, the award aims to ‘encourage cross-border sales and promote the translation, publishing and reading of literature from other countries’, as well as help authors to ‘attract readers beyond national and linguistic borders’.

Wyld received the award for her novel All the Birds, Singing (Vintage). The other winners are: Ben Blushi (Albania), Milen Ruskov (Bulgaria), Jan Němec (Czech Republic), Makis Tsitas (Greece), Oddný Eir (Iceland), Janis Jonevs (Latvia), Armin Öhri (Liechtenstein), Pierre J Mejlak (Malta), Ognjen Spahić (Montenegro), Marente de Moor (The Netherlands), Uglješa Šajtinac (Serbia) and Birgül Oğuz (Turkey).

Each winner receives €5000 (A$7208) and their publishers are encouraged to apply for EU funding to have their books translated into other languages. The winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony at the Concert Noble in Brussels on 18 November.

The award is open to authors from European countries participating in ‘Creative Europe’, the EU funding program for the cultural and creative sectors. Each year, juries from a third of the countries nominate the winning authors.

For more information about the award, visit the website here.

Category: Local news