2024-03-17 10:22:13
A novella told by a courier who delivers food on a bicycle, a return to the traumatic adolescence of a queer boy in a conservative industrial city, or the collected essays of a well-known philosopher received a nomination for Magnesia Litera this Thursday morning. The 23rd annual winners will be announced next month.
In addition to Petr Šesták, Marek Torčík and Tereza Matějčková, more than three dozen authors can receive the most famous Czech book prizes. Just like last year, when the organizers expanded the scope, expert juries will also choose the winner of the Magnesia Litera for a detective story, a fantasy and a humorous book. Unlike last year, these categories will be part of the main gala evening.
The ceremony will take place on April 18 at the New Stage of the National Theatre. It will again be hosted by Daniela Brzobohatá and Saša Michailidis, and will be broadcast by Czech Television.
In probably the most watched Litera for Prose category, the Russian Alena Machoninová with her debut novel Hella, in which she reconstructs the fate of a Czech Jewish woman sent to the gulag, Petr Šesták with the novella Burnout written from the point of view of a courier fighting against cars, or the Englishman Marek Torčík can succeed. The hero of his debut novel Rozlóžiš paměr returns to his adolescence in a small Moravian town that does not forgive differences.
The poets Zofia Bałdyga, who after four collections in Polish published her first written in Czech, were nominated for poetry, as well as Tereza Bínová and Kamil Bouška.
In the category for scientific literature, a professional publication by a collective of authors about meadows, which summarizes nearly forty years of research by scientists from the Botanical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, or herpetologist Jiří Moravec with a book about zoological research in the Amazon rainforest, where he has been going on expeditions for years, may succeed.
Alena Machoninová or Petr Šesták can win a letter for prose. | Photo: CTK
The third nominee is the literary historian Michal Přibáň. His voluminous volume approximates the relations of the two most important exile publishing houses after August 1968: Index, based in Cologne, and Sixty-Eight Publishers, operating in Toronto.
The best debut can be, for example, the debut collection of Klára Krásenská’s poems. In the journalism category, the jury nominated, for example, the philosopher Tereza Matějčková for the collected essays she wrote for the weekly Echo, or the publication about the changes in Czech society in the 1990s by editor Veronika Pehe.
“It was important to us that these were texts by authors who somehow speak to contemporary phenomena and problems, and that the manner of speaking is an example of some kind of ideal journalism that does not primarily appeal to and offer quick solutions, but rather provides a space in which topics can be imagined,” said literary theorist Blanka Činátlová on behalf of the journalistic jury.
A large publication about rugby, which was created by the art historian Petra Nováková with the Welsh founder of the rugby website James Stafford, or the collective work of the poet Karel Šiktanac can receive a letter for the act of publishing. It was published by the Karolinum publishing house in a unified graphic design for two decades.
The individual volumes were edited by Jiří Brabec, now ninety-four years old. All of them were published during Šiktanac’s lifetime, until the last one appeared posthumously. Šiktanc died in 2021, he was 93 years old.
Literary theorist Blanka Činátlová is this year a member of the jury for journalism. | Photo: CTK
Award-winning writer Radka Denemarková with her fresh prose Chocolate Blood, Klára Vlasáková with her novel Tela, Alena Mornštajnová with her bestseller Les v dům, and surprisingly neither the director and writer Andrea Sedláčková with her voluminous biography of the painter Toyen were nominated. At the end of last year, he won the Lidové noviny Book of the Year poll.
Similarly, for example, the jury of the prize for the best translation did not select a single text from English. In this category, translators from Italian, Hungarian and also the title The Life and Adventures of Remus by Aleksander Majkowski, which Miloš Řezník translated from Kashubian, the West Slavic language of a small ethnic group living on the northern edge of Poland, can succeed in this category. The translator Řezník also wrote a preface to the book, where he explains the context.
This year, following the pattern of foreign awards, the organizers published the so-called longlist, i.e. the broader nominations, in advance for the first time. “The publishers sent 554 applications, which was not yet the final number,” literary critic Pavel Mandys says on behalf of the organizers.
According to him, juries have the right to nominate books that the publishers did not apply for some reason. “This year it happened to us with detective stories, where the jury actually requested several books from one publisher and then nominated one,” he adds. This is a title by Maria Horová called With a pitcher of water.
From the nominations in the individual sections, roughly three hundred booksellers, editors, publishers, journalists and writers will choose the overall winner of the book of the year as well as the multi-genre category for the debut of the year. “The wider community of people who deal with books always vote in these two. Last year we approached around 350 of them, about 200 of them voted,” adds Mandys.
The public will be able to meet some of the nominees at four author readings, which will take place every Wednesday evening in Prague’s Václav Havel Library starting on March 27. Magnesia Litera is also part of this year’s Readers’ Prize, in which the public can vote. Last year, the organizers also introduced an honorary Magnesia Award for contribution to book culture. It has no jury or nominations, candidates and holders are proposed by members of the Litera association.
The main goal of Magnesia Litera is to draw attention to quality literature. But it also has an impact on the sales of the winning titles, which often increase significantly after the announcement of the winners.
Nominations for the 2024 Magnesia Litera Awards
Luxor Litera for prose
Alena Machoninová: Hella (Marathon)
Petr Šesták: Burnout (Guest)
Marek Torčík: You will destroy memory (Paseka)
Litera za poezii
Zofia Bałdyga: The Last Travelogues (fra)
Tereza Bínová: The Red Giant (Odeon/EMG)
Kamil Bouška: Documents (Trigon)
Litera for a book for children and young people
Jiří Dvořák: Myko. Complete newsletter from the world of mushrooms (Baobab)
Kateřina Přidalová: This is not just a book (UMPRUM/Designéři Dětem)
Noemi Cupalová: Stupid Vendula (Běžíliška)
Litera for academic literature
Stanislav Březina, František Krahulec, Sylvie Pecháčková, Hana Skálová: Meadows: the adventure of learning. (Academy)
Jiří Moravec: Behind the unknown creatures of the Amazon forests. (Academy)
Michal Přibáň: There is strength in diversity. Exile publishing houses Sixty-Eight Publishers and Index not only in mutual correspondence. (Academy)
Litera for publishing act
The work of Karel Šiktanac (Karolinum)
Edition Department (UMPRUM)
Petra Nováková, James Stafford et al.: Rugby (Labyrinth)
Litera for a translation book
Davide Enia: As in heaven, so on earth (Trans. Marina Feltlová, Argo)
Aleksander Majkowski: The Life and Adventures of Remus (Translated by Miloš Řezník, Argo)
László Szilasi: The Third Bridge (Trans. Marta Pató, Protimluv)
CRo Plus Litera for journalism
Ondřej Daniel, Lenka Krátká, Michal Lehečka, Vojtěch Ondráček, Jana Patočková, Veronika Pehe, Apolena Rychlíková, Jaroslav Spurný: Eternal Nineties. Changes in Czech society after 1989. (CPress)
Tereza Matějčková: God is dead. Nothing is allowed. (Echo Media)
Vojtěch Pecka: Factory of lies: production of climate disinformation. (Alarm/UTOPIA libri)
DILIA Litera for debut rock
Eli Beneš: Slight loss of loneliness (Akropolis)
Klára Krásenská: Myths (Viriditas)
Tomáš Peřina: There’s something inside! (Argo)
Litera za detektikuku
Marie Horová: With a jug for water (MOBA)
Jana Jašová: Cruel Moon (Motto)
Veronika Martinková: Guilt and punishment (VM books)
Literary for fantasy
Pavel Bareš: Lazy Jimmy & his backup band (Guest)
Jan A. Kozák: Saga o Lundirovi (Malvern)
Michaela Merglová: Emptiness (Epocha)
Litera for a humorous book
Lucie Macháčková: Wedding stories (Ikar/EMG)
Filip Mikuš: Exhibition of chameleons (Argo)
Danka Štoflová: How I gave birth to an Indian son from the Cherokee tribe (Argo)