World Literary Prizes 2007

All prizes are annual and were awarded in 2007 unless otherwise stated. Currency equivalents as of July 1, 2007, were as follows: €1 = $1.355; £1 = $2.009; Can$1 = $0.939; ¥1 = $0.008; SKr 1 = $0.146; DKr 1 = $0.171; Russian ruble = $0.039.

Nobel Prize for Literature

Awarded since 1901; included in the behest of Alfred Nobel, who specified a prize for those who "shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction." The prizewinners are selected in October by the Swedish Academy and receive the award on December 10 in Stockholm. Prize: a gold medal and an award that varies from year to year; in 2007 the award was SKr 10 million.

Doris Lessing (U.K.)

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

First awarded in 1996, this is the largest international literary prize; it is open to books written in any language. The award is a joint initiative of Dublin City Council, the Municipal Government of Dublin City, and the productivity-improvement company IMPAC. It is administered by Dublin City Public Libraries. Prize: €100,000, of which 25% goes to the translator if the book was not written in English, and a Waterford crystal trophy. The awards are given at Dublin Castle in May or June.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norway), translated by Anne Born (U.K.)

Neustadt International Prize for Literature

Established in 1969 and awarded biennially by the University of Oklahoma and World Literature Today. Novelists, poets, and dramatists are equally eligible. Prize: $50,000, a replica of an eagle feather cast in silver, and a certificate.

Claribel Alegria (Nicaragua), awarded in 2006

Man Booker International Prize

This prize is awarded every other year (beginning in 2005) to a living author of fiction of any nationality who writes in English or whose work is widely translated into English for the body of his work. The prize is supported by the Man Group PLC. Winners are announced in midyear. Prize: £60,000.

Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) (awarded in 2007)

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature

This award, first awarded in 2003 by the government of Sweden, is awarded annually to one or more living authors who, in the words of the organizers, "in their writing have produced literature for children and young people of absolutely the highest artistic quality and in the humanistic spirit associated with Astrid Lindgren." In 2007 the award was given to an organization. Prize: SKr 5 million.

Banco del Libro (Venezuela)

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

Established in 1987 by the Commonwealth Foundation. In 2007 there was one award of £10,000 for the best book submitted, as well as an award of £5,000 for the best first book. In each of the four regions of the Commonwealth, two prizes of £1,000 are awarded: one for the best book and one for the best first book.

Best Book Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)

Best First Book Vandal Love by D.Y. Béchard (Canada)

Regional winners—Best Book

Africa The Native Commissioner by Shaun Johnson (South Africa)

Caribbean & Canada The Friends of Meager Fortune by David Adams Richards (Canada)

Eurasia The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr (U.K.)

Southeast Asia &

South Pacific Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)

Man Booker Prize

Established in 1969, sponsored by Booker McConnell Ltd. and, beginning in 2002, the Man Group; administered by the National Book League in the U.K. Awarded to the best full-length novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland and published in the U.K. during the 12 months ended September 30. Prize: £50,000.

The Gathering by Anne Enright

Costa Book of the Year

Established in 1971 as the Whitbread Literary Awards (from 1985 Whitbread Book of the Year); Costa Coffee assumed sponsorship in 2006. The winners of the Costa Book Awards for Poetry, Biography, Novel, and First Novel as well as the Costa Children’s Book of the Year each receive £5,000, and the winner of the Costa Book of the Year prize receives an additional £25,000. Winners are announced early in the year following the award.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (2006 award)

Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction

Established in 1996. Awarded to a work of published fiction written by a woman in English and published in the U.K. during the 12 months ended March 31. Prize: £30,000 and a bronze figurine called the "Bessie."

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award

The prize was first awarded in 2005 and recognizes a collection of short stories in English by a living author and published in the previous 12 months. The award is organized by the Munster Literature Centre in Ireland and Cork and underwritten by O’Flynn Construction. Prize: €35,000, shared by the writer and the translators (if any).

No One Belongs Here More than You by Miranda July (U.S.)

Bollingen Prize in Poetry

Established in 1949 by Paul Mellon, it is awarded to an American poet every two years by the Yale University Library. Prize: $100,000.

Frank Bidart

PEN/Nabokov Award

With this award, in even-numbered years the PEN American Center recognizes a living author for his or her body of work in a variety of genres written in, or translated into, English. Named for Vladimir Nabokov and supported by the Vladimir Nabokov Foundation, the award was first presented in 2000. Prize: $20,000.

Philip Roth (2006 award)

PEN/Faulkner Award

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation each year recognizes the best published works of fiction by contemporary American writers. Named for William Faulkner, the PEN/Faulkner Award was founded by writers in 1980 to honour their peers. Prize: $15,000.

Everyman by Philip Roth

Pulitzer Prizes in Letters and Drama

Begun in 1917, awarded by Columbia University, New York City, on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board for books published in the previous year. Five categories in Letters are honoured: Fiction, Biography, and General Non-Fiction (authors of works in these categories must be American citizens); History (the subject must be American history); and Poetry (for original verse by an American author). The Drama prize is for "a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." Prize: $10,000 in each category.

Fiction The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Drama Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire

History The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff

Poetry Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey

Biography The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate

General Non-Fiction The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright

National Book Awards

Awarded since 1950 by the National Book Foundation, a consortium of American publishing groups. Categories have varied, beginning with 3—Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry—swelling to 22 awards in 1983, and returning to the following 4 in 2001. Prize: $10,000 and a crystal sculpture in each category.

Fiction Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

Nonfiction Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Poetry Time and Materials by Robert Hass

Young People’s Literature The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Frost Medal

Awarded annually since 1930 by the Poetry Society of America for distinguished lifetime service to American poetry.

John Hollander

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Awards

The ALSC, a branch of the American Library Association (ALA), presents a series of awards each year for excellence in children’s literature. The two best-established and best-known are the following:

The Newbery Medal, first bestowed in 1922 (the oldest award in the world for children’s literature), honours the author of the most distinguished contribution in English to American literature for children. The award consists of a bronze medal.

Susan Patron, for The Higher Power of Lucky

The Caldecott Medal, first bestowed in 1938, is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished picture book for children. The award consists of a bronze medal.

David Wiesner, for Flotsam

Governor General’s Literary Awards

Canada’s premier literary awards. Prizes are given in 14 categories altogether: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Translation, Nonfiction, and Children’s Literature (Text and Illustration), each in English and French. Established in 1937. Prize: Can$25,000.

Fiction (English) Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje

Fiction (French) La Mer de la Tranquillité by Sylvain Trudel

Poetry (English) All Our Wonder Unavenged by Don Domanski

Poetry (French) Seul on est by Serge Patrice Thibodeau

Griffin Poetry Prize

Established in 2001 and administered by the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, the award honours first-edition books of poetry published during the preceding year. Prize: Can$50,000 each for the two awards.

Canadian Award Strike/Slip by Don McKay

International Award Scar Tissue by Charles Wright (U.S.)

Büchner Prize

Georg-Büchner-Preis. Awarded for a body of literary work in the German language. First awarded in 1923; now administered by the German Academy for Language and Literature. Prize: €40,000.

Martin Mosebach (Germany)

Hooft Prize

P.C. Hooftprijs. The Dutch national prize for literature, established in 1947. Prize: €60,000.

J.M.A. Biesheuvel

Nordic Council Literature Prize

Established in 1961. Selections are made by a 10-member jury from among original works first published in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish during the past two years or in other Nordic languages (Finnish, Faroese, Sami, etc.) during the past four years. Prize: DKr 350,000.

Drömfakulteten by Sara Stridsberg (Sweden)

Prix Goncourt

Prix de l’Académie Goncourt. First awarded in 1903 from the estate of French literary figure Edmond Huot de Goncourt, to memorialize him and his brother, Jules. Prize: €10.

Alabama Song by Gilles Leroy

Prix Femina

Established in 1904. The awards for works "of imagination" are announced by an all-women jury in the categories of French fiction, fiction in translation, and nonfiction. Announced in November together with the Prix Médicis. Prize: Not stated.

French Fiction Baisers de cinéma by Eric Fottorino

Strega Prize

Premio Strega. Awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose (fiction or nonfiction) by an Italian author in the previous year. The prize is supported by the beverage company Liquore Strega and Telecom Italia. Prize: not stated.

Come Dio comanda by Niccolò Ammaniti

Cervantes Prize for Hispanic Literature

Premio Cervantes. Established in 1976 and awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture for a body of work in the Spanish language. Announced in November or December and awarded the following April. Prize: €90,450.

Juan Gelman (Argentina)

Planeta Prize

Premio Planeta de Novela. Established in 1951 by the Planeta Publishing House for the best unpublished original novel in Spanish. Awarded in Barcelona in October. Prize: €601,000 and publication by Planeta.

El mundo by Juan José Millás

Camões Prize

Premio Luis da Camões da Literatura. Established in 1988 by the governments of Portugal and Brazil to honour a "representative" author writing in the Portuguese language. Prize: €100,000.

António Lobo Antunes (Portugal)

Russian Booker Prize

Awarded since 1992, the Russian Booker Prize has sometimes carried the names of various sponsors-e.g., Smirnoff in 1997–2001. In 2004 it was underwritten by the Open Russia Charitable Organization and called the Booker/Open Russia Literary Prize. Awards: $15,000 for the winner; $1,000 for each finalist.

Matisse by Aleksandr Ilichevsky

Big Book Prize

Premiya Bolshaya Kniga. First given out in 2006, it is sponsored by the government of Russia and underwritten by a number of prominent businessmen, who also serve on the jury. Awards: 3 million rubles for first prize, 1.5 million for second, and 1 million for third.

Lyudmila Ulitskaya for her novel Daniel Shtayn, perevodchik

Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature

Established in 1996 and awarded for the best contemporary novel published in Arabic. Prize: $1,000 and a silver medal. The winning work is translated into English and published in Cairo, London, and New York.

Nabidh Ahmar ("Red Wine") by Aminah Zaydan (Egypt)

Caine Prize for African Writing

The Caine Prize for African Writing is awarded annually for a short story written by an African writer and published in English. The prize is named for Sir Michael Caine, longtime chairman of Booker PLC, the publishing company, and chairman of the Booker Prize management committee for 25 years. The Caine Prize was first given out in 2000. Award: £10,000 plus a travel allowance.

Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda) for "Jambula Tree"

Man Asian Literary Prize

This prize is to be awarded annually, beginning in autumn 2007, for an Asian novel unpublished in English. The prize is underwritten by the Man Group PLC and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival Ltd. Prize: $10,000 for the author and $3,000 for the translator, plus publication and distribution of the work if other arrangements have not been made.

Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong (China), translated by Howard Goldblatt (U.S.)

Jun'ichiro Tanizaki Prize

Tanizaki Jun’ichiro Sho. Established in 1965 to honour the memory of novelist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. Awarded annually to a Japanese author for an exemplary literary work. Prize: ¥1,000,000 and a trophy.

Yuichi Seirai for Bakushin ("Ground Zero")

Ryunosuke Akutagawa Prize

Akutagawa Ryunosuke Sho. Established in 1935 and now sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, the prize is awarded in January and June for the best serious work of fiction by a promising new Japanese writer published in a magazine or journal. Prize: ¥1,000,000 and a commemorative gift.

"Hitori Biyori" ("Being Alone") by Nanae Aoyama (136th prize, second half of 2006)

"Asatte no Hito" ("The Person of the Day After Tomorrow") by Tetsushi Suwa (137th prize, first half of 2007)

Mao Dun Literary Award

Established in 1981 to honour contemporary Chinese novels and named after novelist Shen Yanbing (1896-1981), whose nom de plume was Mao Dun; awarded every five years. The latest awards were announced in April 2005.

Zhang Juzheng ("Chang Chü-cheng") by Xiong Zhaozheng

Wuzi ("Without Words") by Zhang Jie

Lishi de tiankong ("The Sky of History") by Xu Guixiang

Dong cang ji ("Hidden Away in the East") by Zong Pu

Yingxiong shidai ("The Era of Heroes") by Liu Jianwei

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