Jan Michalski Prize

Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language.[1][2] It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world literature in general. The jury is multicultural and multilingual in composition.

The award was launched October 2009[1] and the first winner was announced November 2010. The winner receives CHF 50,000. The authors of finalists are invited for a three-month period of residence in the Maison de l'écriture.[3]

The prize was created by the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature (Fondation Jan Michalski pour l’Ecriture et la Littérature), founded in 2004 at the initiative of Vera Michalski-Hoffmann in memory of her husband Jan Michalski.[4] It is located in Montricher, Switzerland.[5]

Honorees

Year Author Original title English, French or German translation Result Ref.
2010 Aleksandar Hemon The Lazarus Project Winner [6]
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed فخاخ الرائحة Wolves of the Crescent Moon Finalists
Tim Flannery The Weather Makers
Laurent Binet HHhH Nominee
Péter Esterházy Harmonia cælestis Celestial Harmonies
Alois Hotschnig Im Sitzen läuft es sich besser davon
Viktor Malakhov Уязвимость любви
Frédéric Martinez Claude Monet, une vie au fil de l’eau
Klaus Merz Der Argentinier
Pavel Sanaev Похороните меня за плинтусом
2011 György Dragomán A fehér király The White King Winner [7]
Miguel Syjuco Ilustrado Finalists
Sjón Skugga-Baldur The Blue Fox
Liu Xiaobo No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems Nominee
Peter Fröberg Idling Pol Pots leende Pol Pot’s Smile
Mark Kharitonov Проект Одиночество
Antoni Libera Godot i jego cień
2012 Julia Lovell The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China Winner [8]
Martin Pollack Kaiser von Amerika: Die große Flucht aus Galizien Finalists
Timothy Snyder Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
Philippe Cassard Franz Schubert Nominee
Patrick Deville Kampuchéa
Mark Gevisser Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred
Donald Ray Pollock The Devil All the Time
Maria Rybakova Острый нож для мягкого сердца Couteau tranchant pour un cœur tendre
Bruno Smolarz Hokusaï aux doigts d’encre
2013 Mahmoud Dowlatabadi زوال کلنل The Colonel Winner [9][10]
Serge Gruzinski L’aigle et le Dragon: Démesure européenne et mondialisation au XVIe siècle Finalists [11]
Steve Sem-Sandberg De fattiga i Łódź The Emperor of Lies
Robert Macfarlane The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot Second selection
Uday Prakash The Walls of Delhi
Janusz Głowacki Good night, Dżerzi First selection
Chan Koonchung 盛世:中國,2013年 The Fat Years
Charu Nivedita ஸீரோ டிகிரி Zero Degree
Tiphaine Samoyault Bête de cirque
Enrique Vila-Matas Chet Baker piensa en su arte
Chris Ware Building Stories
2014 Serhiy Zhadan Ворошиловград Voroshylovhrad Winner [12][13]
Mark Gevisser Dispatcher: Lost and Found in Johannesburg Finalists
Marci Shore The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe
Rana Mitter China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival Second selection
Jaume Cabré Confiteor Confessions
Maxime Raymond Bock Atavismes Atavisms First selection
Camille de Toledo Oublier, trahir puis disparaître
Paul Harding Enon
Fanny Howe Second Childhood
Wojciech Nowicki Salki
Dragan Velikić Bonavia
Najem Wali ملائكة الجنوب Engel des Südens
2015 Mark Thompson Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš Winner [14]
Navid Kermani Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche Erkundungen Between Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern Inquiries Finalists
Najem Wali بغداد مالبورو، من أجل برادلي مانينك Bagdad Marlboro: Ein Roman für Bradley Manning
Jean-Noël Orengo La Fleur du Capital Second selection
Ari Shavit My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
Philipp Ther Die neue Ordnung auf dem alten Kontinent: Eine Geschichte des neoliberalen Europa Europe since 1989: A History First selection
Lucian Dan Teodorovici Matei Brunul L’histoire de Bruno Matei
Frédéric Badré La grande santé
Valentin Retz Noir parfait
Hermione Lee Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
Lisa Jarnot Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography
Gansel Mireille Traduire comme transhumer Translation as Transhumance
2016 Georgi Gospodinov Физика на тъгата Physics of Sorrow Winner [15][16]
Dževad Karahasan Što pepeo priča The Solace of the Night Sky Finalists
Aatish Taseer The Way Things Were
Julian Barnes Levels of Life Second selection
Navid Kermani Ungläubiges Staunen: Über das Christentum Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity
Ada Limón Bright Dead Things First selection
Alberto Mangel Curiosity
Iván Sándor Az éjszaka mélyén, 1914 Husar in der Hölle, 1914
Andrea Bajani La vita non è in ordine alfabetico
Fariba Hachtroudi Le colonel et l’appât 455 The Man Who Snapped His Fingers
Stefan Banz Louis Michel Eilshemius: Peer of Poet-Painters
Patrick McGuinness Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France: From Anarchism to Action française
Víctor del Árbol Un millón de gotas A Million Drops
Ulrike Guérot Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss! Eine politische Utopie Why Europe Should Become a Republic! A Political Utopia
2017 Thierry Wolton Une histoire mondiale du communisme Winner [17]
Lawrence Liang et al. Invisible Libraries Finalists
Liao Yiwu 輪迴的螞蟻 Die Wiedergeburt der Ameisen
Paul Kalanithi When Breath Becomes Air Second selection
Wioletta Greg Guguły Swallowing Mercury
Yuriy Vynnychuk Танґо смерті Tango of Death First selection
Eugénie Paultre L’état actuel des choses
Alvar González-Palacios Solo ombre: Silhouettes storiche, letterarie e mondane
Peter Frankopan The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
2018 Olga Tokarczuk Księgi Jakubowe The Books of Jacob Winner [18]
Yuval Noah Harari ההיסטוריה של המחר Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Finalists
Jean Rolin Le traquet kurde
Norman Ohler Der totale Rausch: Drogen im Dritten Reich Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Second selection
Patrick McGuinness Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory
Maggie Nelson The Argonauts First selection
Virginie Despentes Vernon Subutex
George Szirtes Bad Machine
Preti Taneja We That Are Young
2019 Zeruya Shalev כאב Pain Winner [19]
Francesca Melandri Sangue giusto Finalists
Patrik Ouředník La fin du monde n’aurait pas eu lieu The End of the World Might Not Have Taken Place
Antonio Iturbe La bibliotecaria de Auschwitz The Librarian of Auschwitz Second selection
Morgan Sportès Le ciel ne parle pas First selection
Long Litt Woon Stien tilbake til livet: Om sopp og sorg The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning
2020 Mia Couto with David Brookshaw (trans.) As Areias do Imperador Sands of the Emperor Winner [20][21]
Fran Ross Oreo Finalists
Philippe Sands East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
Érik Orsenna Briser en nous la mer gelée Second selection
Bernard Quiriny Vies conjugales
Roland Schimmelpfennig An einem klaren, eiskalten Januarmorgen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts One Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century First selection
Vigdis Hjorth Arv og miljø Will and Testament
Wojciech Nowicki Cieśniny
Nastassja Martin Croire aux fauves In the Eye of the Wild
Yurii Andrukhovych Коханці юстиції Die Lieblinge der Justiz
António Damásio The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures
Catherine Meurisse La Légèreté Lightness
Sergei Lebedev Предел забвения Oblivion
Sorj Chalandon Le jour d’avant
Viet Thanh Nguyen The Sympathizer
Ruth Zylberman 209 rue Saint-Maur, Paris Xe: Autobiographie d’un immeuble The Department of Missing Persons
2021 Memorial International (Alena Kozlova, Nikolai Mikhailov, Irina Ostrovskaya, and Irina Scherbakova) with Georgia Thomson (trans.) Знак не сотрется: Судьбы остарбайтеров в письмах, воспоминаниях и устных рассказах OST: Letters, Memoirs and Stories from Ostarbeiter in Nazi Germany Winner [22]
Frank Huyler White Hot Light: Twenty-five Years in Emergency Medicine Finalists
Eduardo Halfon with Lisa Dillman and Daniel Hahn (trans.) Duelo Mourning
Sophy Roberts The Lost Pianos of Siberia Second selection
Sergei Lebedev with Antonina W. Bouis (trans.) Дебютант Untraceable
Daniel Mendelsohn Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate First selection
Mário Cláudio Tríptico da Salvação
Ksenia Buksha Открывается внутрь
Maria Stepanova Памяти памяти In Memory of Memory
Judith Schalansky Verzeichnis einiger Verluste An Inventory of Losses
Édouard Louis Qui a tué mon père Who Killed My Father
Mathieu Sapin Gérard: Cinq années dans les pattes de Depardieu Gérard: Five Years with Depardieu
Lisa Mandel Une année exemplaire
Patrice Jean L’homme surnuméraire
Claude Hunzinger Les grands cerfs
Carmen Boullosa El libro de Ana The Book of Anna
2022 Taina Tervonen Les fossoyeuses Winner [23]
Eliane Brum with Diane Grosklaus Whitty (trans.) A vida que ninguém vê The Collector of Leftover Souls: Dispatches from Brazil Finalists
Untold Narratives My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women
Perrine Lamy-Quique Dans leur nuit Second selection
Laurent Binet Civilizations
Nathacha Appanah Le ciel par-dessus le toit The Sky Above the Roof First selection
M. John Harrison The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
Georgi Gospodinov Времеубежище Time Shelter
Cat Jarman River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads
Tanguy Viel La fille qu’on appelle The Girl You Call
Stéphanie Coste Le passeur
2023 Karina Sainz Borgo El Tercer País Winner [24]
Suzanne Simard Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest Finalists
Hamid Ismailov with Donald Rayfield (trans.) Manaschi
Emanuele Trevi Due vite Second selection
Stefan Hertmans with David McKay (trans.) De opgang The Ascent
Hélène Frappat Trois femmes disparaissent First selection
Michel Houellebecq Anéantir Annihilation
Eva Baltasar Boulder
Anna Badkhen Bright Unbearable Reality
Agustín Fernández Mallo El libro de todos los amores The Book of All Loves
Sara Stridsberg Kärlekens Antarktis The Antarctica of Love
Aslak Nore Havets kirkegård The Sea Cemetery
Sally Hayden My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route
Sigrid Nunez What Are You Going Through?
2024 Kate Beaton Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands Winner [25]
Mathieu Belazi Attaquer la terre et le soleil Finalists
Irene Solà Canto jo i la muntanya balla When I Sing, Mountains Dance
Iman Mersal في أثر عنايات الزيات Traces of Enayat Second selection
Fabienne Radi Une autobiographie de Nina Childress
Carlos Fonseca Austral First selection
Sylvain Tesson Avec les fées
Byung-Chul Han Infokratie: Digitalisierung und die Krise der Demokratie Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy
Yasmina Reza James Brown mettait des bigoudis
Cecile Pin Wandering Souls
Hisham Matar My Friends
Fernanda Melchor Páradais Paradais
Gaëlle Obiégly Sans valeur
Adam Thirlwell The Future Future

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Prize for Literature, Press Release of launch" (PDF). Foundation Jan Michalski. November 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  2. ^ "Jan Michalski Prize for Literature". BookTrade.info. June 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  3. ^ "Maison de l'Ecriture". Foundation Jan Michalski. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  4. ^ "Jan Michalski Foundation, background". Foundation Jan Michalski. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  5. ^ Domhnall O'Sullivan (August 26, 2017). "Treehouses of language: inside a Swiss literature foundation". swissinfo.ch. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  6. ^ "2010". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  7. ^ "2011". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  8. ^ "2012". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  9. ^ Sal Robinson (November 14, 2013). "Mahmoud Dowlatabadi wins the 2013 Jan Michalski Prize". Melville House Publishing. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  10. ^ "2013". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  11. ^ "Awards: Jan Michalski Prize for Literature". Shelf Awareness. August 6, 2013. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  12. ^ Brack, Joëlle (28 November 2014). "Prix Jan Michalski 2014ImprimerPartager par e-mail avec un ami". Payot Libraire (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  13. ^ "2014". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  14. ^ "2015". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  15. ^ "Reading with... Georgi Gospodinov". Shelf Awareness. May 18, 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  16. ^ "2016". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  17. ^ "2017". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  18. ^ "2018". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  19. ^ "2019". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  20. ^ Anderson, Porter (2020-12-11). "Switzerland's 2020 Jan Michalski Prize Goes to Mia Couto". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  21. ^ "2020". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  22. ^ "2021". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
  23. ^ "2022". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  24. ^ "Literature Prize". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  25. ^ "Literature Prize". Fondation Jan Michalski. Retrieved 2024-12-10.