Kadare, who has been Albania’s perennial nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature, has been shortlisted along with four other European authors for his latest novel E Penguara (The Biased) translated from Albanian by Roel Schuyt.
TIRANA, June 5 – Albania’s internationally renowned writer has been shortlisted for the European Literature Prize, recognizing the best contemporary novel translated from a European language into Dutch in the previous year. Kadare, who has been Albania’s perennial nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature, has been shortlisted along with four other European authors for his latest novel E Penguara (The Biased) translated from Albanian by Roel Schuyt.
“In Het reisverbod (E penguara) by Ismail Kadare playwright Rudian Stefa is questioned about a girl’s suicide. The investigation brings out the horrors of Communist Albania in a particularly gripping way. Kadare’s virtuosity is conveyed perfectly by Roel Schuyt, who makes the translation switch back and forth entirely naturally between seriousness and irony, the political and the tender, the journalistic and the mythological,” says the jury of the European Literature Prize about Kadare’s novel.
The European Literature Prize is unusual in recognizing both the author and the translator of the winning book. The prize will be presented on 7 September, during Manuscripta, in Utrecht.
The European Literature Prize is an initiative of the Academic-Cultural Centre Spui25, the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the weekly De Groene Amsterdammer and Athenaeum Boekhandel. The prize is supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Lira foundation.
An internationally renowned poet, novelist, essayist, Ismail Kadare has been a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature.
Kadare’s international acclaim for his works peaked in 2005 when he won the Man Booker International Prize. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages.
