Estonia announces winners of the 2025 Kultuurkapitali Literary Awards

To mark Mother Tongue Day, Estonia unveiled the winners of the Kultuurkapital Literary Foundation’s annual award.

The award ceremony took place in the hall of the Writers’ House in Tallinn, the capital city. Winners were announced in the categories of prose, poetry, children’s literature, drama, essay writing, literary criticism, translation, and Estonian literature in foreign languages.

The jury — Elisa-Johanna Liiv, Maarja Vaino, and Tiit Aleksejev — awarded the prose prize to Mehis Heinsaar for his book “Eesti keelde sukelduja” (Diving into the Estonian Language).

The poetry prize was awarded to Berit Kaschan for “Aprill” (April) collection.

In the category of literary translation from a foreign language into Estonian, Aet Varik was named the winner for her translations of David Foster Wallace’s “Unustus” and Joseph Conrad’s “Lääne silme all” (Under the Eyes of the West) from English. The jury highlighted that the award considers the translator’s past achievements, and that Varik has long worked with highly complex texts.

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The award for the translation of Estonian fiction into another language was presented to Guillaume Gibert for his French translation of Nikolai Baturin’s novel “Karu süda” (Bear’s Heart). According to the jury, Baturin’s text — with its rich use of dialectal expressions, neologisms, and alliteration — poses a “titanic challenge” for any translator.

In the non-fiction translation category, the winner was Mart Kanguri for translation from French of René Girardi’s book “Vägivald ja püha” (Violence and the Sacred).

The playwriting award went to Urmas Vadi for his play “Sada grammi taevasina” (A Hundred Grams of Sky Blue), while Hugo Vaheri’s “Nutivaba” (Without a Smartphone) was named the best children’s book. Mari Niitra, chairwoman of the children’s jury, noted that Estonia has long faced concerns about a shortage of original literature for teenagers, so the emergence of a text that is “well-structured and truly tailored to its target audience” gave the jury a special reason to recognize the book.

In the essay category, the winner was Eve Annuk for her book “Elu kui tekst. Artikleid aastatest 1995–2023” (Life as Text: Articles from 1995–2023), while the prize for a literary essay went to Mirjam Parve for her text on translation based on the late poetry of Miklós Radnóti.

A special prize for Estonian literature in a foreign language was awarded to Xavier Bouvet for his novel “Le bateau blanc” (The White Ship), published in French. The jury called it an important continuation of Estonia’s historical novel tradition.

The Cultural Endowment of Estonia (Eesti Kultuurkapital) is a state-funded foundation that supports, promotes, and finances Estonian literature, providing annual awards for excellence in prose, poetry, drama, essays, children’s literature, and translation. The Literature Endowment funds various literary prizes, including the Betti Alver debut prize and grants to bring Estonian literature to foreign audiences.

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Main image: Siim Lõvi / ERR