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. 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 and the first winner was announced November 2010. The winner receives . The authors of finalists are invited for a three-month period of residence in the Maison de l'écriture.
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. It is located in Montricher, Switzerland.
Honorees YearAuthorOriginal titleEnglish, French or German translationResultRef.2010 Winner Wolves of the Crescent MoonFinalists HHhHNominee Harmonia cælestisCelestial Harmonies Im Sitzen läuft es sich besser davon Уязвимость любви Claude Monet, une vie au fil de l’eau Похороните меня за плинтусом2011 Winner IlustradoFinalists SjónSkugga-Baldur —No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and PoemsNominee Pol Pots leendePol Pot’s Smile Проект Одиночество Godot i jego cień2012 Winner Kaiser von Amerika: Die große Flucht aus GalizienFinalists Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin Franz SchubertNominee Kampuchéa Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred Острый нож для мягкого сердцаCouteau tranchant pour un cœur tendre Hokusaï aux doigts d’encre2013 Winner L’aigle et le Dragon: Démesure européenne et mondialisation au XVIe siècleFinalists De fattiga i Łódź Second selection Good night, DżerziFirst selection 盛世：中國，2013年 ஸீரோ டிகிரிZero Degree Bête de cirque Chet Baker piensa en su arte Building Stories2014 ВорошиловградVoroshylovhradWinner Dispatcher: Lost and Found in JohannesburgFinalists China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for SurvivalSecond selection ConfiteorConfessions AtavismesAtavismsFirst selection Oublier, trahir puis disparaître Enon Second Childhood Salki Bonavia Engel des Südens2015 Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo KišWinner Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche ErkundungenBetween Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern InquiriesFinalists Bagdad Marlboro: Ein Roman für Bradley Manning Second selection My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel Europe since 1989: A HistoryFirst selection Matei BrunulL’histoire de Bruno Matei Noir parfait Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography Traduire comme transhumerTranslation as Transhumance2016 Физика на тъгатаPhysics of SorrowWinner Što pepeo pričaFinalists Levels of LifeSecond selection Ungläubiges Staunen: Über das ChristentumWonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity Bright Dead ThingsFirst selection Curiosity Husar in der Hölle, 1914 Louis Michel Eilshemius: Peer of Poet-Painters Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France: From Anarchism to Action française Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss! Eine politische UtopieWhy Europe Should Become a Republic! A Political Utopia2017 Winner et al.Invisible LibrariesFinalists 輪迴的螞蟻 When Breath Becomes AirSecond selection GugułySwallowing Mercury Танґо смертіTango of DeathFirst selection L’état actuel des choses Solo ombre: Silhouettes storiche, letterarie e mondane 2018 Księgi JakuboweWinner ההיסטוריה של המחרHomo Deus: A Brief History of TomorrowFinalists Blitzed: Drugs in the Third ReichSecond selection Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory First selection Vernon Subutex Bad Machine We That Are Young2019 כאבPainWinner Sangue giustoFinalists Second selection First selection Stien tilbake til livet: Om sopp og sorg2020 with David Brookshaw (trans.)Sands of the EmperorWinner OreoFinalists East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Briser en nous la mer geléeSecond selection Vies conjugales An einem klaren, eiskalten Januarmorgen zu Beginn des 21. JahrhundertsOne Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-First CenturyFirst selection Arv og miljøWill and Testament Cieśniny Croire aux fauvesIn the Eye of the Wild Коханці юстиції Lightness Предел забвенияOblivion 209 rue Saint-Maur, Paris Xe: Autobiographie d’un immeuble2021 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 рассказахOST: Letters, Memoirs and Stories from Ostarbeiter in Nazi GermanyWinner White Hot Light: Twenty-five Years in Emergency MedicineFinalists with Lisa Dillman and Daniel Hahn (trans.)DueloMourning Second selection with Antonina W. Bouis (trans.)ДебютантUntraceable Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and FateFirst selection Tríptico da Salvação Открывается внутрь Памяти памятиIn Memory of Memory Verzeichnis einiger Verluste Qui a tué mon pèreWho Killed My Father Gérard: Cinq années dans les pattes de DepardieuGérard: Five Years with Depardieu L’homme surnuméraire 2022 Les fossoyeusesWinner with Diane Grosklaus Whitty (trans.)The Collector of Leftover Souls: Dispatches from BrazilFinalists Untold Narratives —My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women Dans leur nuitSecond selection Civilizations First selection ВремеубежищеTime Shelter River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads 2023 Winner Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the ForestFinalists with Donald Rayfield (trans.)Manaschi Due viteSecond selection with David McKay (trans.) Trois femmes disparaissentFirst selection AnéantirAnnihilation Boulder Bright Unbearable Reality Kärlekens Antarktis Havets kirkegård My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route What Are You Going Through?2024 Ducks: Two Years in the Oil SandsWinner Attaquer la terre et le soleilFinalists Canto jo i la muntanya ballaWhen I Sing, Mountains Dance Traces of EnayatSecond selection AustralFirst selection Avec les fées Infokratie: Digitalisierung und die Krise der DemokratieInfocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy James Brown mettait des bigoudis Wandering Souls My Friends PáradaisParadais Sans valeur 2025 La hija únicaStill BornWinner Et si les Beatles n’étaient pas nés ?Finalists Our Strangers: Stories Om udregning af rumfang IOn the Calculation of Volume ISecond selection Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million of years of Human Evolution La grande ourseFirst selection Checkout 19 James Mes fragiles The Need to Know Les envolés Le doute J’emporterai le feu Lichens: Toward a Minimal Resistance
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External links
Prize entry rules