Ukrainian writer Sofia Andrukhovych to get Herman Hesse Prize
The Hermann Hesse International Prize will be awarded to Ukrainian writer Sofiia Andrukhovych, as well as Alexander Kratochvil and Maria Weissenböck, translators of Amadoka, a book by Andrukhovych, into German.
The prize organisers' website says the ceremony will take place on 2 July 2024, Herman Hesse's birthday.
The prize is awarded every two years by the Hermann Hesse Foundation. It marks "the literary achievement of the international level together with its translation." The remuneration is €20,000 euros. The foundation is located in the hometown of Hesse, Calw (Germany).
Andrukhovych will be awarded for two German editions: Die Geschichte von Romana (Story of Romana) and Die Geschichte von Uljana (Story of Uliana). They are parts of the novel called Amadoka. The third part, Die Geschichte der Sofia (Sofia's Story), will be released in Germany in October 2024.
The judges praised Andrukhovych's ability to "variously and impressively draw a wide panorama of Ukraine of the twentieth century," as well as her "ingenuity and ambition". The panel also stated that the book addresses "the traumatic stages of history that formed the collective memory of Ukrainians: the war in Ukraine's east, the Holocaust, and Stalinism."
Translators will be acknowledged for their ability to recreate "the diverse language registers of Amadoka." "They conveyed the historical voices and keys from 100 years ago, a variety of narrative constructions – laid-back or unreliable, simple or sophisticated, constrained by historical horrors or inspired by the search for their own happiness," the judges stated.
The novel Amadoka covers three periods in Ukrainian history: the early twentieth century, the Holocaust in the country's western parts during WWII, and the current conflict with Russia. Andrukhovych describes this as "a subjective cast of Ukrainian history of the twentieth century." This is the writer's third novel. The Old Lion Publishing House released it in 2020.
In 2023, Andrukhovych was awarded the Sholom Aleichem Prize for her novel Amadoka.
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