Literature prize awarded to Estonian

TALLINN - Estonian writer Meelis Friedenthal is one of the 12 winners of 2013 EU Prize for Literature for his novel ‘The Bees,’ reports Public Broadcasting. Friedenthal describes in his novel the adventures of Laurentius Hylas, a student traveling from the University of Leiden to the Academia Gustavo-Carolina in Tartu, Livonia.

This year’s 12 winners were revealed on Sept. 26 during the opening ceremony of the Goteborg Book Fair by Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. The EU Prize for Literature rewards the best new or emerging authors throughout Europe.

Organized by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Booksellers Federation, European Writers’ Council and the Federation of European Publishers, the competition is open to authors in the 37 countries involved in the EU Culture Program. Each year, national juries in a third of these countries nominate the winning authors, so that all countries are represented over a three-year period.

Each winner will receive 5,000 euros, and priority in applying for EU funding to have their book translated into other European languages.

The winners will be presented with their awards at a gala ceremony in Brussels on Nov. 26, in the presence of Commissioner Vassiliou and leading representatives of the worlds of literature, culture and politics.