This time of year most of the focus on literary prizes in Sweden is of course on the Nobel.
But on the 30th of September the Uyghur poet Perhat Tursun was awarded the Tucholsky Prize* from Swedish PEN with the following motivation:
"For his strong voice for free literature, regardless of cultural taboos or ethno-political oppression, that in a natural and deeply moving way portrays human experience from a minority perspective, the Uyghur author Perhat Tursun is awarded the 2022 Tucholsky Prize."
The prize gets its name from German journalist and writer Kurt Tucholsky who moved to Sweden in 1930 and in 1933 got his German citizenship revoked by the Nazi regime. The Tucholksky Prize is awarded since 1985 to a persecuted, threatened or exiled writer or publicist who in their actions has demonstrated special efforts for the preservation of the freedom of expression. The prize sum is 150'000 Swedish kronor (today between 13'000-14'000 US dollars). Among earlier winners one can note Svetlana Alexievich, Salman Rushdie, Bei Dao and Nuruddin Farah.
Full list of winners:
But on the 30th of September the Uyghur poet Perhat Tursun was awarded the Tucholsky Prize* from Swedish PEN with the following motivation:
"For his strong voice for free literature, regardless of cultural taboos or ethno-political oppression, that in a natural and deeply moving way portrays human experience from a minority perspective, the Uyghur author Perhat Tursun is awarded the 2022 Tucholsky Prize."
The prize gets its name from German journalist and writer Kurt Tucholsky who moved to Sweden in 1930 and in 1933 got his German citizenship revoked by the Nazi regime. The Tucholksky Prize is awarded since 1985 to a persecuted, threatened or exiled writer or publicist who in their actions has demonstrated special efforts for the preservation of the freedom of expression. The prize sum is 150'000 Swedish kronor (today between 13'000-14'000 US dollars). Among earlier winners one can note Svetlana Alexievich, Salman Rushdie, Bei Dao and Nuruddin Farah.
Full list of winners:
- 1985: ?? Adam Zagajewski
- 1986: No prize awarded
- 1987: ?? Don Mattera
- 1988: ??(Kurdish) Sherko Bekes
- 1989: ?? Augusto Roa Bastos
- 1990: ?? Bei Dao
- 1991: ?? Nuruddin Farah
- 1992: ?? Salman Rushdie
- 1993: ?? Mirko Kovac
- 1994: ?? Taslima Nasrin
- 1995: ?? Shirali Nurmuradov
- 1996: ?? Svetlana Alexievich
- 1997: ?? Faraj Sarkohi
- 1998: ?? Vincent P. Magombe
- 1999: ?? Flora Brovina
- 2000: ??(Kurdish) Salim Barakat
- 2001: ?? Asiye Güzel Zeybek
- 2002: ??(Romani) Rajko Duric
- 2003: ?? Jun Feng
- 2004: ?? Yvonne Vera
- 2005: ?? Samir El-Youssef
- 2006: ?? Nasser Zarafshan
- 2007: ?? Faraj Bayrakdar
- 2008: ?? Lydia Cacho
- 2009: ?? Dawit Isaak
- 2010: ?? Abdul Samay Hamed
- 2011: ?? Uladzimir Nyaklyayew
- 2012: ?? Samar Yazbek
- 2013: ?? Masha Gessen
- 2014: ??(Kurdish) Muharrem Erbey
- 2015: ?? Arkady Babchenko
- 2016: ?? Asli Erdogan
- 2017: ?? Yassin al-Haj Saleh
- 2018: ?? Nasrin Sotoudeh
- 2019: ?? Gui Minhai
- 2020: ?? Maria Ressa
- 2021: ?? Dmitry Strotsev
- 2022: ?? Perhat Tursun
- 2023: ?? Serhiy Zhadan
Last edited: