Wednesday 21 September 2011

Swiss Book Prize Shortlist Announced

The Swiss Book Prize doesn't beat around the bush. None of this longlist business – the Swiss cut the crap and announce the shortlist:

Monica Cantieni: Grünschnabel (Schöffling & Co.) - experimental novel looking at a child adopted by Italian immigrants


Catalin Dorian Florescu: Jacob beschliesst zu lieben (Verlag C.H. Beck) - sweeping historical family epos focusing on the Germans in Rumanian Banat


Felix Philipp Ingold: Alias oder Das wahre Leben (Matthes & Seitz Berlin) - very literary and complex historical novel exploring the nature of storytelling


Charles Lewinsky: Gerron (Verlag Nagel & Kimche) - fictitious biography of a real actor who ends up in the Theresienstadt Ghetto


Peter Stamm: Seerücken (S. Fischer Verlag) - apparently masterful short stories by a much-translated favourite. A bit of an odd one out here.

This year extracts will be available in English translation, as with the German Book Prize. And the winner will be announced on 20 November.



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