2024-09-06 05:54:35
The laureate of the 29th Book Club Literary Award was Jiří B. Mayer with the book Závojnatky. His manuscript prevailed in the competition of 127 submitted papers. The prize for the winner is the publication of a book under the Knižní klub publishing brand, a premium of 100,000 crowns and a glass sculpture in the shape of an open book. The organizers announced the winners of the prize for authors of unpublished texts in Prague’s Kaiserštejnské Palace.
The story, presented with insight and humor, describes the life of Ferda from a children’s home, who ended up in a foster family. At first, he loves animals more than people, and reality is still a nightmare for him. She hides in her own world of stories where she can be someone else, even a girl. He likes to change into women’s clothes, but he is unsure about the surgery. He experiences bullying at school because of his otherness. But then Jakub, a few years older, appears. Their friendship gradually turns into a deep partnership that will survive many carambolas, including Ferd’s experiments with the opposite sex.
Jiří B. Mayer graduated from AE Komerse Secondary School of Horticulture and Agriculture in his native Děčín, where his love for animals led him. His relationship with literature and the Czech language then brought him to the Department of Bohemian Studies at the Faculty of Education of the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. He then headed to Prague, where he worked in several professions. As a bookseller, he plucked up the courage and, after 20 years of hesitation, stepped towards his dream – to become a published author.
The Book Club literary prize is unique in the Czech environment in that it does not focus on already published works, as is usual, but turns selected original manuscripts into books. Works published thanks to the Literary Award of the Book Club achieve literary and commercial success. For example, Martin Šmaus’s novels Děvčátko, razdělí ohníček and Hana Androniková’s The Sound of the Sundial won the Magnesia Litera award in the Discovery of the Year category. Ema Labudová’s wallpaper was nominated for this award.