From the Jan Michalski Foundation site
By Dennis Abrams | @DennisAbrams2
‘Cultural Openness’
The shortlist has been released for this year’s Jan Michalski Prize for Literature, awarded each year by the Jan Michelski Foundation.An original feature of this prize is its multicultural nature. It is open to authors everywhere and is meant to contribute to their international recognition. The prize is given to works of fiction or nonfiction, regardless of their original language.
The foundation’s jury is made up of multilingual writers selected for their knowledge of range of literary genre and for what the program’s material calls “cultural openness.”
The Jury’s Original Longlist
Víctor del Árbol, Toutes les vagues de l’océan
Actes Sud, Arles, 2015
Proposed by Vera Michalski-Hoffmann
Andrea Bajani, La vita non è in ordine alfabetico
Einaudi, Torino, 2014
Proposed by Cees Nooteboom
Stefan Banz, Louis Michel Eilshemius, Peer of Poet-Painters
JRP /Ringier, Zürich, 2015
Proposed by Ugo Rondinone
Julian Barnes, Levels of Life
Jonathan Cape, London, 2013
Proposed by Jacek Dehnel
Ulrike Guérot, Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss! Eine politische Utopie
Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 2016
Proposed by Robert Menasse
Georgi Gospodinov, Physik der Schwermut. Roman
Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz, 2014
Proposed by Ilma Rakusa
Fariba Hachtroudi, The Man Who Snapped His Fingers
Europa Editions, New York, 2016
Proposed by Shashi Tharoor
Dzevad Karahasan, Der Trost des Nachthimmels
Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin, 2016
Proposed by Vera Michalski-Hoffmann
Navid Kermani, Ungläubiges Staunen. Über das Christentum
C.H. Beck Verlag, München, 2015
Proposed by Ilma Rakusa
Ada LimónBright Dead Things.Poems
Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, 2015
Proposed by Ugo Rondinone
Alberto Manguel, Curiosity
Yale University Press, 2015
Proposed by Charles Dantzig and Cees Nooteboom
Patrick McGuinness, Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France, From Anarchism to Action française
Oxford University Press, 2015
Proposed by Charles Dantzig
Iván Sándorm Husar in der Hölle
Nischen Verlag, Wien, 2014
Proposed by Robert Menasse
Aatish Taseer, The Way Things Were
Pan Macmillan, London, 2015
Proposed by Shashi Tharoor
The 2016 Shortlist
Julian Barnes, Levels of Life
Georgi Gospodinov, Physik der Schwermut. Roman
Dzevad Karahasan, Der Trost des Nachthimmels
Navid Kermani, Ungläubiges Staunen. Über das Christentum
Aatish Taseer, The Way Things Were
The winner of the prize receives 50,000 Swiss francs (US$51,300) and a work of art especially selected for the Jan Michalski Prize.
Collections are eligible, with the prize money to be divided among authors involved. The prize is normally awarded each year in November at Montricher.
The Jan Michalski Foundation was created in 2004 by publisher Vera Michalski-Hoffmann in her husband’s memory to perpetuate their common commitment to those who devote themselves to the written word.
The mission of the Jan Michalski Foundation is to foster literary creation and readership through efforts including exhibitions and cultural events that have a connection with writing and literature; making a large multilingual library available to the public; awarding thisn annual prize in world literature; and grants of financial support.