Hugo Award
This award can be called one of the most democratic: its laureates are based on the results of voting by registered participants in the World Convents of Science Fiction Fans WorldCon (therefore, the award is considered "reader's"). The Hugo Award is a literary award in the field of science fiction. It was established in 1953 and is worn by Hugo Gernsbeck, creator of the first dedicated science fiction magazines. The award is given annually to the best fiction published in English. The winners are awarded a figurine in the form of a rocket taking off. The award is given in the following categories:
. Best Novel (Best Novel)
. Best Story(Best Novella)
. Best Short Story (Best Novellette)
. Best Story(Best Short Story)
. Best Book about science fiction (Best Related Book)
. Best Production, Large Form (Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form)
. Best Direction, Small Form (Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form)
. Best Professional Editor (Best Professional Editor)
. Best professional artist(Best Professional Artist)
. Best Semi-Prozine (Best SemiProzine)
. Best fanzine (Best Fanzine). Best Fan Writer
. Best Fan Artist
The list of winners of this and other fantastic awards can be found on the Russian Science Fiction website (www.rusf.ru). Separately, the John Campbell Award is awarded - “Most Promising New Author of the Year”, which is received by a science fiction debutant. Along with the Hugo Prize, the Gandalf Prize is sometimes awarded - not for specific work, but for a significant contribution to the development of the fantasy genre.
Cervantes Prize
The Cervantes Literary Prize, established by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1975, is valued in the Spanish-speaking world no less than the Nobel Prize. The monetary part of the "Spanish Nobel Prize" is 90 thousand euros, it is annually awarded to the next laureate by the King of all Spain Juan Carlos in the homeland of the author of Don Quixote - in the town of Alcala de Henares, which is 50 kilometers from Madrid.
James Tait Award
oldest literary award Great Britain - memorial prize James Tait Black Memorial Prize, which has been awarded by the University of Edinburgh since 1919 to the best novelists and authors biographical writings. Its laureates in different time became Evelyn Waugh, Iris Murdoch, Graham Greene, Ian McEwan.
Orange Award
There is an Orange Prize for British women writers who write in English. The winners are awarded a bronze statuette with gentle name Bessie and a check for the pleasant sum of £30,000. The jury of the award is exclusively women. http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/
Nobel Prize in Literature
The award, established by the Swedish chemical engineer, inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel and named after him as the Nobel Prize, is the most prestigious and most criticized in the world. Of course, this is largely due to the size of the Nobel Prize: the award consists of a gold medal with the image of A. Nobel and the corresponding inscription, a diploma and, most importantly, a check for a sum of money. The size of the latter depends on the profits of the Nobel Foundation. According to Nobel's will, drawn up on November 27, 1895, his capital (initially over 31 million SEK) was placed in shares, bonds and loans. The income from them is annually divided into 5 equal parts and becomes prizes for the most outstanding world achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace-building activities. Particular passions flare up around the Nobel Prize in Literature. The main complaints against the Swedish Academy in Stockholm (it is she who identifies the most worthy writers) are the decisions of the Nobel Committee themselves, and the fact that they are taken in an atmosphere of strict secrecy. The Nobel Committee announces only the number of applicants for a particular prize, but does not name their names. Gossips also argue that the prize is sometimes given for political, and not literary motives. The main trump card of critics and detractors is Leo Tolstoy, Nabokov, Joyce, Borges, who were bypassed by the Nobel Prize ... The award is awarded annually on December 10 - the anniversary of Nobel's death. The Swedish king traditionally awards Nobelian writers in Stockholm. Within 6 months after receiving the Nobel Prize, the laureate must speak with Nobel lecture on the topic of their work.
International Prize named after G.-Kh. Andersen
Thanks to the German writer Ella Lepman (1891-1970) for the appearance of this award. And not only for that. It was Mrs. Lepman who ensured that by the decision of UNESCO, the birthday of G.-Kh. Andersen, April 2 is International Children's Book Day. She also initiated the creation of the International Council for Children's and Young Adults' Books (IBBY) - an organization that brings together writers, artists, literary scholars, librarians from more than sixty countries. Since 1956, IBBY has been awarding the International G.-H. Andersen, who, with the light hand of the same Ella Lepman, is called the “little Nobel Prize on children's literature. Since 1966, this award has also been given to illustrators of children's books. gold medal with the profile of a great storyteller, laureates receive every 2 years at the next IBBY congress. The award is given only to living writers and artists.
Astrid Lindgren International Literary Prize
Immediately after Lindgren's death, the Swedish government decided to establish a literary award named after the world-famous storyteller. “I hope that the Prize will fulfill the dual role of serving as a reminder of Astrid and her life's work, as well as promoting and promoting good children's literature,” said Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson. The Astrid Lingren Memorial Award, an annual International Literary Prize for Children and Youth, aims to draw the world's attention to literature for children and adolescents and to children's rights. Therefore, it can be awarded not only to a writer or artist for an exceptional contribution to the development of a children's book, but also for any activity to promote reading and protect the rights of the child. The monetary content of the award is also attractive - 500,000 euros. The lucky winners of the award are determined by 12 honorary citizens of the country, members of the State Cultural Council of Sweden. By tradition, the name of the winner of this award is announced every year in March in the homeland of Astrid Lindgren. The award is presented to the laureate in May in Stockholm.
Grinzane Cavour
In 2001, UNESCO declared the Grinzane Cavour Prize "an exemplary institute international culture". Despite the short history of existence (established in Turin in 1982), the award is one of the most prestigious literary awards in Europe. It got its name from the Turin castle of the 13th century: Count Benso Cavour, the first prime minister of united Italy, used to live there, and now the headquarters of the award is located. the main objective"Grinzane Cavour" - communion younger generation to literature, for which the jury includes both venerable literary critics and schoolchildren. About a thousand teenagers from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the USA, Cuba and Japan vote for the books of the authors nominated for the award. http://www.grinzane.it/
Goncourt Prize
The main French literary prize - Goncourt (Prix Goncourt), established in 1896 and awarded since 1902, is awarded to the author of the best novel or collection of short stories of the year at French, not necessarily living in France. She bears the name French classics Goncourt brothers - Edmond Louis Antoine (1832-1896) and Jules Alfred Huo (1830-1869). The younger, Edmond, bequeathed his vast fortune to the Literary Academy, which became known as Goncourt and established an annual prize of the same name. The Goncourt Academy includes 10 of the most famous French writers who work for a nominal fee of 60 francs per year. Everyone has one vote and can give it for one book, only the president has two votes. The members of the Goncourt Academy at different times were the writers A. Daudet, J. Renard, Roni Sr., F. Eria, E. Bazin, Louis Aragon ... Now the charter of the Goncourt Academy has changed: now the age of the jury members of the prestigious Goncourt Prize should not exceed 80 years. Initially, the award was conceived as an award to young writers for the originality of talent, new and bold searches for content and form.
Booker Prize
Any resident of the Commonwealth of Nations or Ireland can receive the Booker Prize, whose novel in English is considered worthy of world fame and 50 thousand pounds sterling. The award has been presented since 1969, sponsored by the Man Group of Companies since 2002, and officially named The Man Booker Prize. First, an annual advisory committee of publishers and writers, literary agents, booksellers, libraries, and the Booker Prize Foundation compiles a list of about one hundred books. The committee approves a jury of five people - well-known literary critics, writers, scientists, public figures. In August, the jury announces a "long list" of 20-25 novels, in September - six participants in the "short list", and in October - the laureate himself. By the 40th anniversary of the award appeared special award"Booker of all time". Its laureate was to be Bukeriat, whose work was considered by readers to be the best novel in all the years of the award's existence. In 2008, the monetary part of the prize amounted to more than one hundred thousand US dollars (50 thousand pounds).
International Booker Prize
This award was established in 2005 and is a "relative" of the regular "Booker". It is awarded every 2 years to the author for piece of art written in English or available to the general reader in translation into it.
The Carnegie Medal
The word "medal" can be found in the title of many "children's literature" awards. For example, to receive The Carnegie Medal will honor the absolute majority of writers. This very prestigious award has been awarded since 1936 and always enjoys the attention of the general public. The jury consists of representatives of the association of librarians. List of laureates: http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/list.html
IMPAC
The world's largest premium amount for a single literary work- 100 thousand euros. The winners get it international award IMPAC, established in 1996 by Dublin City Council. In this city, sung by Joyce, the rewarding takes place. Although the headquarters of the international company IMPAC (Improved Management Productivity and Control), whose name the award bears, is located in Florida and has no direct relation to literature. IMPAC - a world leader in productivity improvement - is working on projects for largest corporations and organizations in 65 countries around the world. To be eligible for the competition, a work must be written or translated into English and must withstand fierce international competition: 185 library systems in 51 countries. Award website
Top 15 literary awards, the winners and nominees of which are worth paying your close reader's attention to. If you're wondering what to read, check it out!
1. National Literary Award "Big Book"
The award was established in 2005 and is one of the most prestigious awards for large-format works published in Russian in the reporting year.
The winners of the award in different years were Dmitry Bykov, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Leonid Yuzefovich, Vladimir Makanin, Pavel Basinsky, Mikhail Shishkin, Zakhar Prilepin.
The award jury consists of about 100 people, which ensures the independence and breadth of the award's expertise. The monetary fund is 5.5 million rubles, of which 3 million - the winner of the first prize. Becoming a laureate of this award is not only about attracting readers' attention to a book, but also about increasing consumer demand.
2. Nobel Prize in Literature
On the one hand, the award, established by the Swedish chemical engineer, inventor of dynamite and industrialist Alfred Nobel, is the most prestigious in the world. On the other hand, it is one of the most controversial, criticized and discussed peace prizes. Many critics consider the award politicized and biased. However, whatever one may say, the writer to whom it is awarded wakes up famous all over the world in the morning, and sales of his books increase dramatically.
Russian writers received the prize five times: 1933 - Bunin, 1958 - Pasternak (who refused the prize), 1965 - Sholokhov, 1970 - Solzhenitsyn, 1987 - Brodsky.
3 Pulitzer Prize
One of the most honored awards in the United States in the field of literature, journalism, music and theater, consistently attracting the interest of readers around the world.
4. Booker Prize
It is rightfully considered one of the most prestigious literary prizes awarded for a work written in English. Salman Rushdie, Richard Flanagan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Iris Murdoch, Julian Barnes, Coetzee, Ondaatje and many others. The list of laureates since 1969 is impressive, some of them later became Nobel laureates in literature.
5. Goncourt Prize for Literature
The main French literary prize, established in 1896 and awarded since 1902, is awarded to the author of the best novel or short story collection of the year in French, but not necessarily living in France. The award fund is symbolic, but its award brings the author fame, recognition and growth in sales of his books.
The prize winners were Marcel Proust (1919), Maurice Druon (1948), Simone de Beauvoir (1954).
6. Prize "Yasnaya Polyana"
Established in 2003 by the museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" with the support of Samsung Electronics.
Awarded in four categories: Modern classic”, “XXI century” - the winner of 2015 was “Zuleikha opens her eyes” by Guzeli Yakhina, “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” and “Foreign Literature”.
7. Prize "Enlightener"
The Enlightener award for the best popular science book in Russian was established in 2008 by the founder and Honorary President of Vimpelcom ( trademark Beeline) by Dmitry Zimin and the Dynasty Foundation for Non-Commercial Programs in order to attract the attention of readers to the educational genre, encourage authors and create prerequisites for expanding the educational literature market in Russia.
8. Writer of the Year Award
The National Literary Award "Writer of the Year" was established by the Russian Union of Writers in order to find new talented authors who can contribute to contemporary literature. Laureates receive contracts for the publication of their works funded by the Russian Union of Writers. Competitive selection of authors is carried out on literary portal Proza.ru.
9. National award "Russian Booker"
The award was established in 1992 at the initiative of the British Council in Russia as the Russian analogue of the Booker Prize and is awarded for best novel in Russian, published in the reporting year. Its laureates were Bulat Okudzhava, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Vasily Aksenov.
10. National Bestseller Award
Established in 2001. The motto of the award is “Wake up famous”. “The purpose of the award is to reveal the otherwise unclaimed market potential of highly artistic and/or otherwise meritorious prose works.”
The winners of the award were Leonid Yuzefovich, Zakhar Prilepin, Dmitry Bykov, Viktor Pelevin.
11. Award "NOS"
Established in 2009 by the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation "to identify and support new trends in modern fiction in Russian". The main feature of the award is the openness of the decision-making process, namely: the jury is obliged to publicly argue the choice of the finalists and the winner within the framework of a talk show in the presence and with the participation of journalists, writers and the cultural community. In addition to the winner of the main award, the winner of the reader's vote is also determined.
12. KNIGURU Award
All-Russian competition for the best literary work for children and youth, in which the final decision is made by a jury consisting of young readers aged 10 to 16 years.
13. Debut Award
Independent literary award for authors writing in Russian and not older than 35 years. Established in 2000 by Andrey Skoch's Generation Foundation. The coordinator of the award is the writer Olga Slavnikova. It is important that an agreement is concluded with the laureate of the award in each nomination for the publication of his work.
14. Book of the Year Award
Established in 1999 federal agency press and mass communications. Awarded during the MIBF in nine nominations.
15. Vladislav Krapivin International Children's Literary Prize
Established in 2006 by the Association of Ural Writers. The award accepts works for children and teenagers. It is important that the work be written in Russian with a volume of at least 1.5 author's sheets (60 thousand characters with spaces).
A prize or award is awarded, as a rule, on a competitive basis to a person or organization for outstanding results in a particular field of activity. Below is a list of the ten most famous world awards.
Opens the ranking of the most famous awards "Pulitzer Prize" - the most prestigious US award in the field of literature, journalism, music and theater. It was founded on August 17, 1903 by newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer. The award has been awarded annually in twenty-one categories since 1917. The amount of the award is $10,000.
MTV Video Music Awards is an annual award given by the MTV channel for the creation of video clips. The ceremony was first held in 1984 in New York. The record holder for the number of statuettes won, the so-called "Moonmanow", is the American singer Madonna, who has won 20 awards.
BRIT Awards
The BRIT Awards are the UK's most prestigious annual pop music awards. The award was first presented in 1977 as part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II. It has been awarded annually since 1982. The record holder for the number of nominations is British singer Robbie Williams (17 BRIT Awards).
Seventh place in the list of the most famous awards is occupied by the Grammy - the annual music award of the American Recording Academy, founded on March 14, 1958. Awarded by voting in 78 categories across 30 musical genres. As of February 2009, a total of 7,578 awards have been presented.
The Cannes Film Festival is an annual international film festival founded in 1946. Held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in resort town Cannes, in the south of France. The most prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival awarded in the category for best movie is the Palme d'Or.
Fifth place in the list of the most famous world awards goes to the Golden Globe. It is an annual American award given since 1944 for motion pictures and television pictures, as voted by some 90 international journalists based in Hollywood. The record holder for the number of nominations is Meryl Streep (29 awards).
BAFTA
BAFTA - independent Charity organization, which supports, develops and promotes such trends in art as cinema, television and computer games. The organization was formed in 1947 under the leadership of David Lean. The first BAFTA award ceremony took place in 1948 in London. The winners receive as a prize golden mask.
Third place in the list of the ten most famous awards in the world goes to the Booker Prize. It is the most prestigious literary award given annually in the UK since 1969 for the best original novel written in English. The winner of the award receives £50,000.
Oscar
In second place in the list of the most famous world awards is the Oscar - the most prestigious American film award on the planet, annually presented since 1929 in Los Angeles, at the Dolby Theater for various achievements in the film industry. From 1953 to the present, the ceremony has been televised in more than 200 countries. Walt Disney won the most Oscars (26).
The Nobel Prize is an international annual award given for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions, or major contributions to culture or society. The award was named after the Swedish chemist, engineer and inventor Alfred Nobel, who in his will ordered part of his capital to be awarded as an award for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and the world. Between 1901–2015 The Nobel Prize was awarded to 870 laureates and 26 organizations.
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NEWS OF LITERARY AWARDS 2018
2018 Big Book Prize Winners Announced
On December 4, 2018 in Moscow, at the Pashkov House, where the Big Book National Literary Prize is traditionally awarded, members of the Literary Academy named the winners of the thirteenth season.
The first place this year went to the novel "Memory of Memory" by Maria Stepanova. The second place went to Alexander Arkhangelsky's "Checking Bureau", the third went to the novel "June" by Dmitry Bykov.
The writer and playwright Lyudmila Petrushevskaya was awarded for her contribution to literature.
On the eve of the ceremony, the results of the reader's vote were summed up. The winner was the winner of the award - "June" Dmitry Bykov. Andrei Filimonov's "Recipes for the Creation of the World" took second place, and Oleg Ermakov's novel "Rainbow and Heather" took third place.
For the first time, as part of the awards ceremony, another award was presented - "_Litblog". The purpose of this award is to support the public discussion of contemporary literature on the Web. The master's program in Literary Excellence at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, which is the organizer of the award, hopes in this way to bring the literary process closer to new media formats. More than 60 authors from all over Russia took part in the competition. The expert council, which included writers Maya Kucherskaya and Marina Stepnova, as well as graduate students, selected 15 finalists.
Evgenia Lisitsyna, the creator of the greenlampbooks telegram channel, became the winner.
2018 National Bestseller Literary Award Winner Announced.
WriterAlexey Salnikov from Yekaterinburg with the novel "Petrovs in the flu and around him" became the winner of the literary award "National Bestseller". This became known at the award ceremony, which took place on Saturday, May 26, at New stage Alexandrinsky Theatre.
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Aksenov V. There would be a daughter Anastasia / Vasily Aksenov. - Moscow: Limbus-Press, 2018. - 532 p. Vasily Ivanovich Aksenov was born in 1953 in the village of Yalan, Yenisei District, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Since 1974 he has been living and working in St. Petersburg. Winner of the Literary Prize. Andrei Bely. “There would be a daughter Anastasia” is a novel dedicated to Yalani, a distant Siberian village where the author was born. This is a year-long prayer, during which the hero, together with the author, intensely peers into the nature of Siberia, into the change of seasons and into the movements of his own soul. The main nerve of the novel is the relationship between an aging mother and an adult son who has long left his small homeland but never left her heart. |
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Labych M. Bitch / Maria Labych. - Moscow: EKSMO, 2018. Maria Labych is a Russian writer, born in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Since childhood, she was fond of painting, graphics and photography. The novel tells about the fate of a girl who found herself at the center of the confrontation in the Donbass. The “bitch” in the name means primarily a female dog that grew up in a booth and knows how to be faithful and tear the enemy with her teeth. But the bitch is also the girl Dana, a soldier in the Army of the Country, who is involved in a disgusting civil war. Maria Labych's book is not only about hatred, but also about how important it is to remain human. |
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Petrovsky D. Darling, I'm at home: a novel / Dmitry Petrovsky. - Moscow: Fluid FreeFly, 2018. - 384 p. Dmitry Petrovsky - contemporary writer, screenwriter, publicist. Born in 1983 in Leningrad. At the age of 19 he moved to Berlin, where he still lives and works. Multifaceted, creepy and exciting from the first pages, Dmitry Petrovsky's novel tells about the past, present and future European civilization. "Honey, I'm home!" - to whom does the German billionaire, the owner of the largest air carrier, shout every day in the evenings? |
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Salnikov A.B. Petrovs in the flu and around it: a novel / Alexei Borisovich Salnikov. - Moscow: AST: Edited by Elena Shubina, 2018. - 416 p. - (Class reading). * Alexey Salnikov was born in 1978 in Tartu. Finalist of the Big Book and NOSE. Lives in Yekaterinburg. The novel "Petrovs in the flu and around it" is a story about the Petrov family from Yekaterinburg, whose members successively fall ill with the flu and find themselves in a strange semi-magical reality where mysterious events and transformations. |
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Starobinets A. Look at him / Anna Starobinets. - Moscow: Corpus, 2017. - 288 p. Anna Starobinets is a Russian writer and journalist, screenwriter. Was born in Moscow. The documentary autobiographical book “Look at him” is about a tragic pregnancy, during which a child was found to have malformations incompatible with life in utero. In her book, Anna Starobinets tells her own story with amazing courage. How should a woman behave so that grief does not break her? How about her family? And what can doctors and society do for them? |
May 30 at the traditional Literary dinner The list of finalists of the Big Book National Prize has been announced-2018.
Chairman of the Literary Academy "Big Book" Dmitry Bak: "In" big book“There are always new generations of authors and new directions of work being represented, which is very gratifying.” The Council of Experts included eight works in the list of finalists. Among them are the works of both eminent authors and new, yet unknown a wide range readers.
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Bykov D. June: novel / D. Bykov. - Moscow: AST, Edited by Elena Shubina, 2017. - 512 p. Dmitry Bykov - Russian writer, poet and publicist, literary critic, radio and TV presenter, journalist. New romance- a bright experiment, a literary event. Bykov's novel "June" describes the events in the Soviet Union in 1939-1941. main topic novel - the life and fate of the pre-war generation, which anticipates an imminent catastrophe. The book is built on three independent plots. The first part is the story of a student who is expelled from the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History. The hero of the second part is Boris Gordon, a journalist for a Soviet propaganda newspaper, whose lover is sent to a camp. The third part tells about an elderly philologist who is obsessed with the idea that with the help of the word he can influence Stalin. Believing in his theory, he gets a job in the people's commissariat for an insignificant position in order to prepare an unimportant report for Stalin once a year. |
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Vinokurov A. People of the black dragon / Alexey Vinokurov // Banner. - 2016. - No. 7. - P.8-43.* Alexey Vinokurov - playwright, television screenwriter. For many years he has been studying modern China, the mystical side of martial arts. The Black Dragon, Heilongjiang is what the Chinese call the Amur River. On its Russian shore, in the village of Byvalom, while in Russia they are playing out revolutionary events In 1917, representatives of three peoples settled at once - Russian, Chinese and Jewish. The first golem of the Black River appears, which was blinded by the old Solomon, an expert on Kabbalah, the girl Xiao Yu becomes a mermaid, the Chinese demons of retribution punish cruel murderers, the mysterious magician Liu Ban teaches the Chinese martial arts, a doctor is born in the village who conquers death itself. There's a lot going on in this little-known place on the Black Dragon's shore. |
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Ermakov O. Rainbow and Heather: a novel / Oleg Ermakov. - Moscow: Time, 2018. Oleg Ermakov was born in Smolensk. The novel describes events taking place in the 17th century. This work takes the reader on a journey through time and mystical secrets. Two private fates - a Polish gentry and our contemporary. In the spring of 1632, a young nobleman Nikolaus Vrzosek arrived in the city in the east of the Commonwealth. And in February 2015 - Moscow wedding photographer Pavel Kostochkin. The heroes find a unique Radziwill Chronicle. Both of them peer with curiosity at the outlines of the castle-fortress. What awaits them here? Love awaits both: one - to the granddaughter of an icon painter and herbalist, the other - to someone else's bride. |
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Slavnikova O. Long jump: a novel / Olga Slavnikova // Banner. - 2017. - No. 7. - S. 9-114; No. 8. - S. 7-75. * Olga Slavnikova - prose writer, critic. Heads the literary award "Debut". |
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Stepanova M. Memory of memory / Maria Stepanova. - Moscow: New publishing house, 2018. - 420 p. Maria Stepanova is a Russian poet, prose writer and essayist. |
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Filimonov A. Recipes for the creation of the world / Andrey Filimonov. - Moscow: AST, Edited by Elena Shubina, 2017. - 320 p. Andrey Filimonov - writer, poet, journalist. In 2012, he invented and launched the PlyasNigde Traveling Poetry Festival in Russia and Europe. |
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Arkhangelsky A. Bureau of verification: a novel / Alexander Arkhangelsky.- Moscow: AST: Editorial office of Elena Shubina, 2018.-416 p. Alexander Arkhangelsky - prose writer, TV presenter, publicist. History in his prose individual heroes always unfolds against the backdrop of familiar signs of the times. The new novel "Checking Bureau" is both a detective story, and a story of growing up, and a portrait of an era, and the beginning of today's contradictions. 1980 A mysterious telegram forces graduate student Alexei Nogovitsyn to return from the construction team. The action of the novel takes only nine days, and everything fits in this short period: a love story, religious throwing, viewing banned films and interrogations at the KGB. Everything that happens to the hero is not accidental. Someone is testing it for strength ... |
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"Theater of Despair. Desperate Theater» Evgeny Grishkovets - Russian playwright, writer, TV presenter, theater director and film actor, musician. “This voluminous book is written as a biographical story, but the main character of the novel is not a person, or not so much a person, as a vocation that moves and leads a person to an incomprehensible goal for a person” (Evgeny Grishkovets). |
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Editions marked with "*" are available in the library collections.
Today Leyla Budaeva sums up the literary results of the outgoing year: talks about the five major book awards of our time and shares the list of winning novels and works included in the shortlists. You can start making your next year's reading list now!
Booker Prize
Founded in 1969, but until 2014 only writers from the UK, Ireland and the British Commonwealth could apply for it. Now a novel from any country can be nominated for the award - the main thing is that it be written in English.
This year's winner was "Lincoln in the Bardo" by American George Saunders. The book takes place over the course of one evening and touches on a real event - the death of 11-year-old William, son of US President Abraham Lincoln in February 1862. The boy enters the bardo - a kind of intermediate state described in Buddhism as the interval between death and the separation of mind and body. According to Saunders, the inhabitants of the bardo are "disfigured by desires that they did not fulfill while they were alive." Wanting to get out of this trap, William tries to communicate with his father.
"4 3 2 1", Paul Auster (USA)- the action of the novel takes place in the second half of the twentieth century and tells about four versions of the life of a boy named Archibald Ferguson, developing in parallel to each other. Each of them speaks in their own way about his studies, growing up and relationships.
"History of Wolves", Emily Friedlund (USA)- the debut novel of the famous short story writer, which tells about a fourteen-year-old girl, Madeleine. She lives with her parents in the wilderness of northern Minnesota, acutely feeling alone and out of touch with the world.
"Entering the West", Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan)- the novel touches on the themes of emigration and the problems of refugees. The plot is based on the story of a young couple, Said and Nadia, who find themselves in the center civil war in an unnamed country.
"Elmet", Fiona Moseley (Great Britain)- another debut novel in the shortlist of the award. Brother and sister Daniel and Kathy live with their father in the village of Elmet: they walk in the moorlands, raise cattle, and sincerely care for each other. The idyll continues until the family is threatened...
"Autumn", Ali Smith (Great Britain)- 101-year-old Daniel ends his days in a nursing home, where 30-year-old Elizabeth visits him regularly. Between them, despite the colossal difference in age, there was a really warm relationship. The novel takes place in the fall of 2016 - after the United Kingdom left the European Union and, according to the members of the jury of the Booker Prize, is a "meditation on the theme of a changing world."
Goncourt Prize
The French award for achievements in the genre of the novel has been awarded annually since 1903. According to the charter, one can become its laureate only once. The only exception is the writer Romain Gary. The first time he received the award in 1956, and 19 years later he was awarded it again under the name of Emile Azhar.
This year's winning novel was The Order of the Day by Eric Vuyard. The plot is based on real events and takes place in Nazi Germany. The book tells about the formation of the Nazi regime in alliance with prominent German industrialists.
The shortlist for the award also includes:
"Bakhita", Veronique Olmi- the main rival of the winning novel, the plot of which is also based on real events. This is the story of a girl born in the west of Sudan in mid-nineteenth century. Kidnapped by slave traders at the age of seven, she passes from one owner to another until she is ransomed by the Italian consul. In Italy, she is placed in a convent, after which she expresses her desire to be baptized ...
"Hold your crown tight" Yannick Haenel- A certain writer has created an unnecessary script for a film about Herman Melville (the author of the famous "Moby Dick"). In New York, he meets a famous director who is interested in his manuscript, after which a time of adventure begins in the life of a hero.
"The Art of Losing" by Alice Zenite- a novel about a girl from a Kabyle family who came to France from the north of Algeria. The book tells about the fate of several generations of refugees who remained in captivity of the past, as well as the right to be yourself - without regard to anyone else's ideas about who you should become.
Pulitzer Prize
Established in the United States in 1903 and awarded for achievements in literature, journalism, music and theatre. A curious fact is that many of the award-winning books have never been on the bestseller lists (exceptions include The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which I discuss in a post about American literature), a most of award-winning plays have never been performed on the stages of Broadway theaters.
Award winner for fiction novel became The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. The book takes place on the eve of the Civil War. Dark-skinned slave Cora decides to escape and gets into a secret route system - underground railway, with the help of which the movement of slaves from the southern (slave-owning) states to the north took place. Whitehead emotionally talks about milestones in the history of American slavery and subsequent segregation - the forced separation of the population along racial lines.
The nominees also included:
"Imagine Me Gone", Adam Haslett- the story of how difficult relationships develop within a family after a depressed father of three commits suicide.
The Sport of Kings, C.E. Morgan- The plot takes place in the American South. Ambitious Henry, one of the oldest families in Kentucky, decides to turn his family lands into a stud farm for breeding thoroughbred horses - future race winners.
Russian booker
The award was established in 1992 on the initiative of the British Council in Russia as a project similar to the British Booker Prize. Awarded for the best novel published during the year.
The novel-laureate of 2017 was the book by Alexandra Nikolaenko "To Kill Bobrykin: The Story of a Murder". 200 pages of text speak of what is going on in the soul of the impressionable Sasha: day after day he is nostalgic for the times when he was in love with his classmate Tanya. Now she is married to Sasha's neighbor, Bobrykin. To the hero, he seems to be a personal demon, some kind of evil that has haunted him since childhood - for this reason he is going to kill him.
The shortlist for the award also includes:
The Secret Year, Mikhail Gigolashvili- the novel describes two weeks from the life of Ivan the Terrible in that strange period of Russian history, when he left the throne to Simeon Bekbulatovich and shut himself up in the Alexander Sloboda for a year. Book with elements of phantasmagoria draws psychological picture king, his vulnerable, painful subconscious.
Bare Flame, Dmitry Novikov- a story that confesses its love to the harsh Russian North. The writer throws a bridge from our days to the distant past, sincerely admires the beauty and richness of nature and talks about the spiritual component of modern life.
"Zahhok", Vladimir Medvedev- the book tells about the Russian teacher Vera, who involuntarily remained with her children in Tajikistan during the civil war in the early 1990s. The polyphonic novel, written on behalf of several characters, allows you to consider events from several angles.
Appointment with Quasimodo, Alexander Melikhov- dozens of murderers pass through the office of criminal psychologist Yulia, whose fate depends on her decision to consider them sane or not. What makes them break the law? The subject of reflection in this philosophical novel is the phenomenon of beauty.
"Nomah. Sparks of a Great Fire, Igor Malyshev- another novel on the theme of the civil war. Nomah ( main character) exactly repeats the path of Nestor Makhno, an anarcho-communist and leader of the insurrectionary movement in southern Ukraine in 1918-1922.
Nobel Prize
Unlike other awards, the Nobel Prize does not have an official list of finalists. About those who claimed the main literary prize of the world this year, we will know only after half a century, when the archives will be published. I received an award British writer of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro, who “in his novels of incredible emotional power reveals the abyss hidden behind our illusory sense of connection with the world” - such a formulation was voiced by the Nobel Committee.
The beauty is that most of Ishiguro's prose has been translated into Russian, and the cult " The rest of the day"And" Do not let me go"- filmed. "At the end of the day" (under this name the film was released in Russian rental) was nominated for eight Oscars, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. In the less successful film Don't Let Me Go, Charlotte Rampling, Keira Knightley and young Carrie Mulligan and Andrew Garfield played.
