Brussels, 06.01.2010
The European Booksellers Federation (EBF), the European Writers’ Council (EWC) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) are delighted to announce that they have been re-appointed by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, as the consortium to organise the European Prize for Literature (EUPL) to be awarded in November 2010 to emerging authors from 11 countries participating in the EU Culture Programme.
The countries selected for 2010 are:
Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. As a first step, the consortium will organise the setting up of juries in each of these countries. The juries will start their selection process as of January 2010 and deliver a final report to the consortium by the end of June 2010.
The aim of the EUPL is to put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature, to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works.
In 2009, 12 prizes were awarded to emerging authors from the first set of countries, during a ceremony in Brussels celebrating the diversity of European literature in the presence of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the Swedish bestselling author Henning Mankell (who had accepted the role of ‘Patron of the EUPL’ in 2009), Ms Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (Minister of Culture Sweden), and Ms Doris Pack (MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Education and Culture). In 2011, authors from the 12 remaining countries from the total of 35 participating in the EU Culture Programme will be eligible for the awards.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, said: ”The EU is a world super-power in culture. Our rich cultural diversity is a huge asset, and we must maximise our efforts to exploit it, to stimulate creativity, innovation and economic growth. The European Union Prize for Literature is an example of what can be done in this field, as it helps promote emerging European literary talents and showcase European culture.”
EBF President, John Mc Namee, commented: “EBF is delighted to be a player in this extremely valuable initiative which brings talented writers to the due attention of European readers across borders.”
EWC President, Pirjo Hiidenmaa, added: “The first edition of the EUPL has proven that the prize has the power to raise awareness about European contemporary literature and to open doors across Europe for emerging talents.”
FEP President, Federico Motta underlined the “central role of literature in our common European cultural heritage”, adding that the three partners “will draw on last year’s experience to ensure that this year’s prize – and the winning authors – will receive even greater visibility.”
Besides the setting up of the juries, the role of the consortium will be the co-ordination of the initiative and the practical organisation of the awards’ ceremony.
The EUPL is co-financed through the Culture Programme of the European Union. The programme supports trans-national cultural cooperation projects involving operators from a minimum of three different countries participating in the programme. It also provides specific support for the translation of literary works and is open to all cultural sectors except audiovisual, for which a separate programme exists
For further information:
About the Prize:
www.euprizeliterature.eu
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/our-programmes-and-actions/doc627_en.htm
About the Culture programme:
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm
About the organisers:
EBF: www.ebf-eu.org
FEP: www.fep-fee.eu
EWC: http://www.europeanwriters.eu/