August Prize 2009

[Bjorn]

The August Prize (named for Strindberg, of course) is the Swedish Publishers' Union's annual award for Swedish-language literature published in the last year (think Booker with umlauts). This year's nominees:

• En liten historia (A Little Story), Eva Adolfsson
• Städerna inuti Hall (The Cities Inside Hall), Johannes Anyuru
• Hotel Galicja, Per Agne Erkelius
• Den siste greken (The Last Greek), Aris Fioretos
• Vad hjälper det en människa om hon häller rent vatten över sig i alla sina dagar (What Does It Help A Person If She Pours Clean Water Over Herself For All Of Her Days), Ann Jäderlund
• De fattiga i Łódź (The Poor In Łódź), Steve Sem-Sandberg

To my knowledge, there are no translations in the works of either title. Several notable authors were left off the list, including (Eric's gonna have a field day with this) two high-profile Finland-Swedish authors, Kiell Westö and Monika Fagerholm.

That said, and not having read any of them (I've glanced through Fioretos' book), they all seem to have been very well received and so far nobody seems to be complaining. The winner will be announced on November 23rd.

[Eric]

The August Prize (Augustpriset) is presumably named after the author August Strindberg, rather than the month. While it is vastly overshadowed by the Nobel, this too is a Swedish prize, this time for home-grown produce.

The online press notes that this year the Holocaust is in the spotlight. Indeed the first two books here are clearly about that event:

Per Agne Erkelius: "Hotell Galicja".
Steve Sem-Sandberg: "De fattiga i Lodz".
Aris Fioretos: "Den siste greken".
Eva Adolfsson: "En liten historia".
Johannes Anyuru: "Städerna inuti Hall".
Ann Jäderlund: "Vad hjälper det en människa..." (poetry)

Those who wonder what the Swedes are cooking up, will have all revealed on 23rd November.

Regarding the contents, more when I myself know more.

[hdw]

Originally Posted by Eric

The August Prize (Augustpriset) is presumably named after the author August Strindberg, rather than the month.

It won't affect the pronunciation either way, as I believe he insisted on pronouncing his name the English way.

Harry

[Eric]

The august Swedish writer, polymath and alchemist Strindberg may have...

Ow, gust ye winds...

August isn't the cruellest month...

Take your pick.

[Eric]

Funny, isn't it: when the Swedes give a million dollars to a relatively unknown author from abroad everyone's interested. I do hope that there are some who are equally interested, being idealists and internationalists, when people from the same country reward their own writers, in the way the Man Booker rewards anyone writing in the English language (who isn't American...).

I was tipped off that short descriptions of the nominees' books were available on the Dagens Nyheter website, at:

Nominerade till Augustpriset 2009 - DN.se

”En liten historia” av Eva Adolfsson
(Albert Bonniers förlag)
A modern, intellectual woman tries to find the true nature of love behindboth theory and practice.

”Städerna inuti Hall” av Johannes Anyuru
(Norstedts förlag)
In more than 300 pages, Anyuru constructs a poetic suite that starts on a suburban park bench and moves through society, yet back to the Ancient World.

”Hotel Galicja” av Per Agne Erkelius
(Norstedts förlag)
Towards the end of his life, a writer remembers the story of his youthful love and his murdered family and decides to write the story of all this.

”Den siste greken” av Aris Fioretos
(Norstedts förlag)
About a Greek migrant worker in the Sweden of the 1960s, but expands to become a complex family saga full of tales.

”Vad hjälper det en människa om hon häller rent vatten över sig i alla sina dagar” av Ann Jäderlund
(Albert Bonniers förlag)
A collection of poetry that contrasts - or compares - the most intimate autobiographical details with what is general.

”De fattiga i Lodz” av Steve Sem-Sandberg
(Albert Bonniers förlag)
250.000 Jews in a Polish ghetto. When the war is over, the ghetto is empty, its inhabitants annihilated. The history of this ghetto.

So, who's going to win on November 23rd?

[Johan]

I have not read any of this year's nominees, but the prize committee(or whoever makes the call, I'm not sure) has shown good taste in previous years.

[Bjorn]

Aaaaaand the winner is:

Originally Posted by Eric

”De fattiga i Lodz” av Steve Sem-Sandberg
(Albert Bonniers förlag)
250.000 Jews in a Polish ghetto. When the war is over, the ghetto is empty, its inhabitants annihilated. The history of this ghetto.

[hdw]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

Aaaaaand the winner is:

The inhabitants of the Łódż ghetto may have been massacred by 1945 but when I worked in Sweden in the 1970s I knew a young Polish Jewish medical student from that city who had emigrated to Sweden with his doctor father to escape prime minister Edward Gierek's anti-Jewish campaigns.

Although they had an "ethnically Polish" surname and had converted to Catholicism, they were still known to be Jews and treated accordingly. It seems you just can't win in Poland.

Harry