The EBRD Literature Prize is a literary prize established in 2017 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in cooperation with the British Council. It was first awarded in 2018. As per the bank, the prize celebrates the "literary richness" of its regions of operation, which include more than 40 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa.
Each year, the prize is awarded for a novel or collection of short stories by a single author translated into English from a language of an economy where the EBRD currently invests. From the works submitted for consideration, ten are shortlisted, from which three are later chosen as finalists. The final winner is revealed at an awards ceremony and awarded €20,000, which is shared equally between the writer and translator. The authors and translators of the two other finalist books receive €2,000 each.
The prize is now entirely funded by the bank’s shareholders through its Community Initiative.
Entries are judged by an independent panel, composed of a chair and two or three other judges. The chair is in post for three years; the other judges are appointed yearly.
Rosie Goldsmith was chair of judges 2018–2020 and Toby Lichtig 2021–2023. Maya Jaggi is chair 2024–2026.
The inaugural winner of the EBRD Literature Prize was Istanbul Istanbul, by the Turkish writer Burhan Sönmez, translated by Ümit Hussein.
Winners and nominees = winner
Year Title Author Translator Publisher Language Status 2018 Istanbul Istanbul İstanbul İstanbul Burhan Sönmez Ümit Hussein Telegram Books Turkish Winner All the World's a StageВесь мир театр Boris Akunin Andrew Bromfield Weidenfeld & Nicolson Russian Shortlist Belladonna Daša Drndić Celia Hawkesworth MacLehose Press/Quercus Croatian The Traitor's NicheKamarja e turpit Ismail Kadare John Hodgson Penguin Books Albanian The Red-Haired WomanKırmızı Saçlı Kadın Orhan Pamuk Ekin Oklap Faber & Faber Turkish Maryam: Keeper of Stories Alawiya Sobh Nirvana Tanoukhi Seagull Books Arabic In the Name of the FatherV mene otca Balla Julia SherwoodPeter Sherwood Jantar Publishing Slovak Longlist About My MotherSur ma mère Tahar Ben Jelloun Ros SchwartzLulu Norman Saqi/Telegram French The EquestrienneKrasojazdkyňa Uršuľa Kovalyk Julia SherwoodPeter Sherwood Parthian Books Slovak The Bickford FuseБикфордов мир Andrey Kurkov Boris Dralyuk MacLehose Press/Quercus Russian Women Who Blow on KnotsDüğümlere Üfleyen Kadınlar Ece Temelkuran Alexander Dawe Parthian Books Turkish Hair EverywhereKosa posvuda Tea Tulić Coral Petkovich Istros Books Croatian 2019 The Devils' Dance Jinlar bazmi, yoxud Katta oʻyin Hamid Ismailov Donald RayfieldJohn Farndon Tilted Axis Uzbek Winner Soviet MilkMātes piens Nora Ikstena Margita Gailītis Peirene Press Latvian Shortlist Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the DeadProwadź swój pług przez kości umarłych Olga Tokarczuk Antonia Lloyd-Jones Fitzcarraldo Editions Polish Lala Jacek Dehnel Antonia Lloyd-Jones Oneworld Publications Polish Longlist My Name Is Adam Elias Khoury Humphrey Davies MacLehose Press Arabic The Clash of ImagesLa querelle des images Abdelfattah Kilito Robyn Cresswell Darf Publishers French The Peace MachineBarış Makinesi Özgür Mumcu Mark David Wyers Pushkin Press Turkish The AviatorАвиатор Eugene Vodolazkin Lisa C. Hayden Oneworld Russian The Book of WhispersCartea șoaptelor Varujan Vosganian Alastair Ian Blyth Yale University Romanian Shatila Stories Various Nashwa Gowanlock Peirene Press Arabic 2020 Devilspel Очарованье сатаны Grigory Kanovich Yisrael Elliot Cohen Noir Press Russian Winner Pixel Krisztina Tóth Owen Good Seagull Books Hungarian Shortlist ZuleikhaЗулейха открывает глаза Guzel Yakhina Lisa C. Hayden Oneworld Russian Not Saying GoodbyeНе прощаюсь Boris Akunin Andrew Bromfield Orion Russian Longlist Sacred Darkness Levan Berdzenishvili Brian James BaerEllen Vayner Europa Editions Georgian(translated from Russian) Mrs Mohr Goes MissingTajemnica domu Helclów Jacek Dehnel Antonia Lloyd-Jones Oneworld Polish Bellevue Ivana Dobrakovová Julia SherwoodPeter Sherwood Jantar Publishing Slovak Ice Sonallah Ibrahim Margaret Litvin Seagull Books Arabic Every Fire You TendYüzünde Bir Yer Sema Kaygusuz Nicholas Glastonbury Tilted Axis Turkish Under PressurePod pritiskom Faruk Šehić Mirza Purić Istros Books Bosnian 2021 The King of Warsaw Król Szczepan Twardoch Sean Gasper Bye Amazon Crossing Polish Winner The Pear Field Nana Ekvtimishvili Elizabeth Heighway Peirene Press Georgian Shortlist Mr K ReleasedDomnul K. eliberat Matei Vișniec Jozefina Komporaly Seagull Books Romanian Love in the Days of Rebellionİsyan Günlerinde Aşk Ahmet Altan Brendan FreelyYelda Türedi Europa Editions Turkish Longlist Grey BeesСерые пчёлы Andrey Kurkov Boris Dralyuk MacLehose/Quercus Russian CarbideКарбід Andriy Lyubka Reilly Costigan-HumesIsaac Stockhouse Wheeler Jantar Publishing Ukrainian Hana Alena Mornštajnová Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood Parthian Books Czech No-Signal AreaPodručje bez signala Robert Perišić Ellen Elias-Bursać Seven Stories Croatian The Highly Unreliable Account of the History of a MadhouseBir Deliler Evinin Yalan Yanlış Anlatılan Kısa Tarihi Ayfer Tunç Feyza Howell Istros Books Turkish Your Ad Could Go HereТут могла б бути ваша реклама Oksana Zabuzhko Nina MurrayMarta HorbanMarco CarynnykHalyna HrynAskold Melnyczuk Amazon Crossing Ukrainian 2022 The Orphanage Інтернат Serhiy Zhadan Reilly Costigan-HumesIsaac Stackhouse Wheeler Yale University Ukrainian Winner The Book of KaterinaΤο βιβλίο της Κατερίνας Auguste Corteau Claire Papamichail Parthian Books Greek Shortlist Boat Number FivePiata loď Monika Kompaníková Janet Livingstone Seagull Books Slovak Doctor Bianco and Other StoriesDoktor Bianko i inne opowiadania Maciek Bielawski Scotia Gilroy Terra Librorum Polish Longlist Birds of VerhovinaVerhovina madarai Ádám Bodor Peter Sherwood Jantar Publishing Hungarian Red CrossesКрасный крест Sasha Filipenko Brian James BaerEllen Vayner Europa Editions Russian City of TormentTrýznivé město Daniela Hodrová Veronique FirkusnyElena Sokol Jantar Publishing Czech Manaschi Hamid Ismailov Donald Rayfield Tilted Axis Press Uzbek Karolina, or the Torn CurtainRozdarta zasłona Maryla Szymiczkowa Antonia Lloyd-Jones Oneworld Polish Just the PlagueЧума Ludmila Ulitskaya Polly Gannon Granta Russian 2023 The Lake Jezero Bianca Bellová Alex Zucker Parthian Books Czech Winner Mister N Najwa Barakat Luke Leafgren And Other Stories Arabic Finalists The Books of JacobKsięgi Jakubowe Olga Tokarczuk Jennifer Croft Fitzcarraldo Editions Polish Mothers and TruckersMatky a kamionisti Ivana Dobrakovová Julia SherwoodPeter Sherwood Jantar Publishing Slovak Shortlist Invisible Woman and Other StoriesNevidljiva žena i druge priče Slavenka Drakulić Christina Pribichevich ZorićJacob Agee Fraktura Croatian Time ShelterВремеубежище Georgi Gospodinov Angela Rodel Weidenfeld & Nicolson Bulgarian According to HerWedług niej Maciej Hen Anna Blasiak Holland House Books Polish Body KintsugiKintsugi tijela Senka Marić Celia Hawkesworth Peirene Press Bosnian Nights of PlagueVeba Geceleri Orhan Pamuk Ekin Oklap Faber & Faber Turkish Mondegreen: Songs about Death and LoveМондеґрін: Пісні про смерть і любов Volodymyr Rafeienko Mark Andryczyk HURI Books Ukrainian 2024 The End A vége Attila Bartis Judith Sollosy Archipelago Hungarian Winner The Wounded Age and Eastern TalesYaralı Zaman & Doğu Öyküleri Ferit Edgü Aron Aji New York Review Turkish Finalists BarcodeVonalkód Krisztina Tóth Peter Sherwood Jantar Publishing Hungarian NikiΝίκη Christos Chomenidis Patricia Felisa Barbeito Other Press Greek Shortlist Jimi Hendrix Live in LvivЛьвовская гастроль Джими Хендрикса Andrey Kurkov Reuben Woolley MacLehose Press Russian Exiled ShadowUmbra exilată Norman Manea Carla Baricz Yale University Romanian History of Ash Khadija Marouazi Alexander E. Elinson Hoopoe Arabic Let's Go Home, SonSine, idemo kući Ivica Prtenjača David Williams Istros Books Croatian This Thing Called Love Alawiya Sobh Max Weiss Seagull Books Arabic A Sensitive PersonCitlivý člověk Jáchym Topol Alex Zucker Yale University Czech 2025 Sons, Daughters Sinovi, kćeri Ivana Bodrožić Ellen Elias-Bursać Seven Stories Croatian Winner ForgottennessЗабуття Tanya Malyarchuk Zenia Tompkins Bullaun Press (Ireland)Liveright (US) Ukrainian Finalists The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror StoryEmpuzjon: Horror przyrodoleczniczy Olga Tokarczuk Antonia Lloyd-Jones Fitzcarraldo Editions Polish The Ukraine Artem Chapeye Zenia Tompkins Seven Stories UkrainianShortlist Too Great a SkyCapătul drumului Liliana Corobca Monica Cure Seven Stories Romanian EngagementNişan Evi Çiler İlhan Kenneth Dakan Istros Books Turkish My WomenМої жінки Yuliia Iliukha Hanna Leliv 128 LIT Ukrainian CelebrationProslava Damir Karakaš Ellen Elias-Bursać Selkies House Croatian Herscht 07769 László Krasznahorkai Ottilie Mulzet New Directions Hungarian Life After KafkaŽivot po Kafkovi Magdaléna Platzová Alex Zucker Bellevue Czech 2026 People and Trees Adamlar və ağaclar Akram Aylisli Katherine E. Young Plamen Press Azerbaijani(translated from Russian) Winner IceLód Jacek Dukaj Ursula Phillips Head of Zeus Polish Finalists On the Greenwich Line Shady Lewis Katharine Halls Peirene Press Arabic Sololand Hassan Blasim Jonathan Wright Comma Press ArabicShortlist In Late SummerU kasno ljeto Magdalena Blažević Anđelka Raguž Linden Editions Croatian Rock, Paper, GrenadeХто ти такий? Artem Chekh Olena JenningsOksana Rosenblum Seven Stories Ukrainian Death and the GardenerГрадинарят и смъртта Georgi Gospodinov Angela Rodel Weidenfeld & Nicolson Bulgarian We Computers: A Ghazal NovelBizkim komputerlar, yo dunyoning eng goʻzal shoiri? Hamid Ismailov Shelley Fairweather-Vega Yale University Uzbek Eye of the MonkeyA majom szeme Krisztina Tóth Ottilie Mulzet Seven Stories Hungarian BedbugsStjenice Martina Vidaić Ellen Elias-Bursać Sandorf Passage Croatian
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