Two Ukrainian writers are shortlisted for Angelus Award

Stanislav Aseev and Tamara Duda were included in the shortlist of the Angelus Central European Literature Award.

The short list includes seven titles:

• Stanislav Aseev, “The Bright Path: the story of one concentration camp”, translated by Marcin Gaczkowski, KEW (Ukraine);
• Tamara Duda, “Daughter”, translated by Marcin Gaczkowski, KEW (Ukraine);
• Katarína Kucbelová, “The Bonnet”, translated by Katarzyna Dudzic-Grabińska, Ha!art (Slovakia);
• Zyta Rudzka, “He laughs who has teeth”, WAB Foksal (Poland);
• Judith Schalansky, “An Inventory of Losses”, translated by Kamil Idzikowski, Ha!art (Germany);
• Piotr Siemion, “Bella, ciao”, Filtry (Poland);
• Saša Stanišić, “Where”, translated by Małgorzata Gralińska, Książkowe Klimaty (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Germany).

“In all books that were nominated for the Award we find the experience that will help us understand what it means to be a Central European in the broadest sense. They possess echoes of wars, both in past and present, national and family traumas passed from generation to generation and the constant struggle with the past and the memory,” is written at the website of the Award.

Books by Ukrainian authors are described as those that “bring us closer to the war in Ukraine, the most brutal military conflict taking place in Europe now.”  The winner will be announced on Oct. 14, and will receive a monetary prize.

The Angelus Central European Literary Award is a literary prize awarded annually since 2006 for the best prose book published in the Polish language in the past year. The city of Wroclaw is the organizer and founder of the award. Any writer originating from Central European country (Austria, Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Germany, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro) can be nominated and become a laureate.

The prize is awarded for the best pieces of prose to authors who address the most important and pressing issues of the modern world, impels reflection and deeper knowledge of other cultures.

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In 2023 Oksana Zabuzhko and Natalia Sniadanko were included in the long list. In 2021 Kateryna Babkina became the laureate of the prize.

Tamara Duda is Ukrainian writer, translator and volunteer. She writes about war.

Stanislav Aseev is Ukrainian author and journalist who has personally experienced life in Russia’s captivity and writes about it.

Main image: angelus.com.pl