Ukrainian book hit EBRD Literature Prize 2024 shortlist

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced the shortlist for this year’s EBRD Literature Prize. 

Among ten selected works is ‘Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv’, a book written in Russian by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov, and translated from Russian by Reuben Woolley. It was published by MacLehose Press.

While introducing the shortlist, Maya Jaggi, chair of the award judging panel said the following: “From the lyric to the epic, the picaresque to the carnivalesque, these books swept us from Moroccan dungeons and the snowy Turkish mountains to encounters with a Czech theatre troupe on the run and ageing Ukrainian rockers innocently unaware of the cataclysm to come. We found humour in abundance, tenderness and always a stubborn insistence on memory. Among the persistent themes were the psychological scars of authoritarianism, a Europe marred by erupting xenophobia, trepidation at Russian expansionism long before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the sullen resentments and quiet rapprochements between fathers and sons.” 

The prize gives equal recognition to author and translator with a €20,000 award divided equally between them.

Three finalists for the grand prize will be announced in late April and the winning author and two runners-up, along with their translators, will be declared on 13 June at an awards ceremony and reception at the EBRD’s headquarters in London. 

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Press release

EBRD Literature Prize