Six Ukrainian writers vie for Angelus 2022 literary award

This year, six Ukrainian writers are in the running for the ANGELUS Central European Literature Award.  

The list of 100 finalists includes 6 from Ukraine: 

• Vasyl Slapchuk (Ten sam kurz drogi (The Same Dusty Road), translated by Wojciech Pestka, published by Warsztaty Kultury (Workshops of Culture));

• Vasyl Makhno (Kalendarz wieczności (Eternal Calendar), translated by Bohdan Zadura, published by Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (State Publishing Institute));

• Volodymyr Lys (Stulecie Jakowa (Jacob’s Centenary), translated by Anna Korzeniowska-Bihun, published by Poznańskie Powarzystwo im. Iwana Franki (Ivan Franko Society of Poznan));

• Bohdan Kolomiychuk (Ekspres do Galicji (Express to Galicia), translated by Ryszard Kupidura, published by Wydawnictwo Anagram (Anagram Publishing House));

• Yuriy Vynnychuk (Lutecja (Liutetsia), translated by Bohdan Zadura, published by Wydawnictwo Warstwy (Warstwy Publishing House));

• Oleh Poliakov (Lodowa karuzela (Ice Carousel) translated by Ryszard Kupidura, published by Wydawnictwo Anagram (Anagram Publishing House)).

The winner will receive 150,000 Polish zloty ($36,000) and a statuette by Ewa Rossano. Starting in 2009, the translator has also been awarded a separate prize. If the award is won by a Polish writer, the jury selects the best translator of one of their foreign language books. 

Переможець премії отримає 150 тис. злотих (понад 40 тис. Доларів – 150,000 Poland złoty equals 35,819.70 United States Dollar) 

The ANGELUS Central European Literature Award has been awarded annually since 2006 for the best prose published in Polish in the past year. The award is funded and organized by the City of Wroclaw. The winner is selected among writers from the countries of Central Europe: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.  

Лавреатом може стати письменник, що походить із Центральної Європи (Австрія, Албанія, Білорусь, Болгарія, Боснія і Герцеговина, Естонія, Латвія, Литва, Північна Македонія, Молдова, Німеччина, Польща, Росія, Румунія, Сербія, Словаччина, Словенія, Угорщина, Україна, Хорватія, Чехія, Чорногорія).

The award is presented to writers whose works undertake themes the most relevant to the present day, encourage reflection and expand the knowledge of other cultures.

Ukrainian writers who have won the award in the past: Yuriy Andrukhovych (2006, Dwanaście kręgów (Twelve Rings), translated by Katarzyna Kotyńska), Oksana Zabuzhko (2013, Muzeum porzuconych sekretów (The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, translated by Katarzyna Kotyńska), Serhiy Zhadan (2015, Mezopotamia (Mesopotamia), translated by Michał Petryk and Adam Pomorski) and Kateryna Babkina (2021, Nikt tak nie tańczył, jak mój dziadek (Nobody Danced Like My Grandpa), translated by Bohdan Zadura).

In 2021, in addition to Kateryna Babkina, who went on to win, 11 other Ukrainian writers qualified for the award.