Press Release: European Union Prize for Literature renewed for 2022-2024 cycle

The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) has been renewed by the European Commission for a new cycle, running from 2022 to 2024. Despite the new concept, the renewal of the project guarantees its continuation and ensures EUPL will continue to award authors and celebrate their works. In line with the philosophy of EUPL, all countries involved in Creative Europe programme will continue to participate in EUPL, all nominated books will be promoted at literary events across Europe, and all nominated authors will appear in the EUPL anthology.

This will be the fifth cycle of the Prize, introducing new approach and concept in line with the Commission’s call for tender, which requested the change in formula including having fewer laureates, and reflecting new realities of Creative Europe’s translation support programme.

Started in 2009, the EUPL spotlights the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, promotes the circulation of literature within Europe and encourages greater interest in non-national literary works.

The 2022-2024 cycle introduces a new format for the EUPL Prize: initial book selection for each participating country will be conducted by national organisations, each entitled to submit one book that is of high literary quality with potential for translatability. The EUPL Consortium decided to work with nominating organisations which have the means to promote the authors in numerous occasions, especially outside their respective countries.

A second round of selection will be conducted by a seven-member European jury, who will thus select an overall Prize winner and five special mention awards. The members of the jury, which are yet to be revealed, have extensive experience within the sector and are best placed to select books able to reach a wide audience across Europe and beyond.

The authors whose works win these new categories will be awarded a financial prize, half of which will include a grant to support translations of their winning books. The results of the 2022 edition of the Prize will be announced at the Paris Book Fair on 21 April 2022.

The practical organisation and management of the Prize for this new cycle is handled by the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) and the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF). However, the new cycle marks the departure of one of the founding partners of EUPL – the European Writers’ Council (EWC). Both FEP and EIBF regret the decision of EWC to withdraw from EUPL, as authors are a fundamental part of the book chain.

The Consortium will continue to promote EUPL authors and help raise their visibility at national and international events. We will do so by working together with all stakeholders in the book trade, including organisations representing authors, of which EWC forms an integral part, even though this will for now no longer be the case within the EUPL Consortium.

We are looking forward to revealing the nominated books in the next weeks, with the final winner being announced in April. For more information on EUPL, its new structure and partners, see the website.

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