BBC Book of the Year 2023: Kyivan Queen of France, family dramedy, and adventures of Ukrainian Literature

BBC Book of the Year 2023 has announced the winners in three categories. According to Marta Shokalo, BBC News Ukraine editor and the Awards jury chair, the Award aims ‘to choose the year’s best Ukrainian literary work amidst the war, destruction, suffering, and sacrifice that dominate the Ukrainian minds and discourse’.

 A total of 139 submissions have been entered into the competition this year.  

The winners are:

BBC Book of the Year 2023 — “The Ladder” by Yevhenia Kuznetsova (The Old Lion Publishing House)

Yevhenia Kuznetsova is an author of fiction and non-fiction books, a language researcher, and translator. She was nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature in 2022. Her second book, ‘Ask Miechka,’ was shortlisted for the BBC News Ukraine Book of the Year in 2021 and has been translated into Finnish.   

BBC Children’s Book of the Year 2023 — “Anna Yaroslavna: Kyivan Princess — Queen of France” by (A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishing House)

Ivan Malkovych is a Ukrainian poet, a laureate of the National Taras Shevchenko Prize in Ukraine and co-founder and chief editor of the first privately-owned publishing house “A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA”. It’s renowned for children’s illustrated books, exceptional translations, and long-selling titles, the publishing house is also notable for being the first to introduce Harry Potter to Ukrainian readers in 2002. 

BBC Book of the Year — Essays 2023 — “Adventures of Ukrainian Literature (from Romanticism to Postmodernism)” by Rostyslav Semkiv (Tempora Publishing House)

Rostyslav Semkiv is a literary critic, lecturer, translator, and the director of the publishing house ‘Smoloskyp.’ Additionally, he holds the position of associate professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and contributes to Chytomo.

The winner in each category will receive a monetary prize equivalent to £1,000. 

The BBC Jury includes: 

• Prof. Vira Ageyeva, a Ukrainian literary critic, National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” 
• Olha Herasymyuk, journalist, member of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting 
• Vitaliy Zhezhera, writer, journalist 
• Taras Lutiy, philosopher, writer 
• Svitlana Pyrkalo, cultural advisor at the The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Marta Shokalo, chief editor of BBC News Ukraine. 

The annual literary award by the BBC will recognize the best works of fiction and essays in the Ukrainian language across three categories: BBC Book of the Year, BBC Children’s Book of the Year, and BBC Book of the Year – Essays.  Established in 2005, the Award has since acknowledged over 35 books. Previous laureates include prominent Ukrainian writers such as Serhiy Zhadan, Yuri Andrukhovych, Tamara Duda, Sofia Andrukhovych, Oksana Zabuzhko, Petro Yatsenko, Artem Chekh, Tanja Maljartschuk, among others. 

Recently featured on the NYT list of the Best Children’s Books, ‘Who Will Make the Snow?’ by Taras and Marjana Prokhasko was also honored as the BBC Book of the Year in 2013.

Image: BBC News Ukraine website