Tomas Vaiseta Was Nominated for the European Union Prize for Literature

Fourteen nominees for the European Union (EU) Prize for Literature were announced in Brussels on Monday. This year, Lithuania is nominating a writer, historian, and lecturer at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University (VU), Assoc. dr. Tomas Vaiseta for the novel "Ch.". The Lithuanian Institute of Culture appointed the work to the prize following the change in the award procedure.

T. Vaiseta was also awarded the Jurga Ivanauskaitė Prize for his novel "Ch."

Ukrainian writer Eugenia Kuznetsova is also one of the 14 nominations for the work "Спитайте Мієчку." As stated in the European Literary Prize report, "we express our solidarity with Ukraine, its writers, translators, publishers, booksellers, and librarians. Four years ago, the first Ukrainian candidate, Haska Shyyan, won the EU Literature Prize. In addition, the Ukrainian Book Institute has nominated Eugenia Kuznetsov as the best rising voice in the country's literature. Together with the global book community, the organizers of the EU Literary Prize condemn Russia's attacks and demand the restoration of peace in Ukraine."

The award, presented every three years since 2009 and aimed to give international visibility to authors embarking on a creative career, updates the concept and selection procedure this year. Works with a high artistic level and potential for translation for 2022–2024 are nominated by the national authorities for literature dissemination and institutions working with translation promotion programs.

The second selection round will be carried out by a jury of seven members from different European countries (not included in this cycle), who will read excerpts from the books translated into English and French and select the winner of the main prize and up to five special prize winners. In addition, award-winning authors will receive a monetary award, half of which will be funded by translations of their works. This year's results will be announced at the Paris Book Fair on April 21st.

Previously, national commissions delegated one of the 13 or 14 prize winners of that year.

The EU Literature Prize is organized by the Federation of European Publishers and the European and International Booksellers Federation on behalf of the European Commission. One-third of the 41 countries participating in the EU's Creative Europe program are eligible to receive the prize each year.

The commission of literary experts formed by the Lithuanian Institute of Culture consists of journalist Audrius Ožalas, literary scholars Jūratė Čerškutė and Neringa Butnoriūtė, literary critic and writer Virginija Cibarauskė and poet, translator Marius Burokas. According to the commission members, T. Vaiseta's novel "Ch." reflects on the challenges of Western civilization, created a universal world of narrative, and showed special attention to the language of literature.

Four Lithuanian writers have previously won the EU Literature Prize: Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė (2009), Giedra Radvilavičiūtė (2012), Undinė Radzevičiūtė (2015), and Daina Opolskaitė (2019). The award encouraged the translation of their works into the languages ​​of the countries of the European Union. This year's award is also open to writers from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Sacartwell, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Northern Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Ukraine.