EBRD Literature Prize

Last updated August 03, 2025

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 almost 40 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa.^[1].

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 a country where the EBRD 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,^[2] by the Turkish writer Burhan Sönmez, translated by Ümit Hussein.

Winners and nominees

= winner


Year	Title	Author	Translator	Publisher	Language	Status
2018	Istanbul Istanbul	Burhan Sönmez	Ümit Hussein	Telegram Books	Turkish	Winner
	All the World's a Stage	Boris Akunin	Andrew Bromfield	Weidenfeld & Nicolson	Russian	Shortlist
	Belladonna	Daša Drndic	Celia Hawkesworth	MacLehose Press/Quercus	Croatian
	The Traitor's Niche	Ismail Kadare	John Hodgson	Penguin Books	Albanian
	The Red-Haired Woman	Orhan Pamuk	Ekin Oklap	Faber & Faber	Turkish
	Maryam: Keeper of Stories	Alawiya Sobh	Nirvana Tanoukhi	Seagull Books	Arabic
	In the Name of the Father	Balla	Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood	Jantar Publishing	Slovak	Longlist
	About My Mother	Tahar Ben Jelloun	Ros Schwartz and Lulu Norman	Saqi/Telegram	French
	The Equestrienne	Uršuľa Kovalyk	Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood	Parthian Books	Slovak
	The Bickford Fuse	Andrey Kurkov	Boris Dralyuk	MacLehose Press/Quercus	Russian
	Women Who Blow on Knots	Ece Temelkuran	Alexander Dawe	Parthian Books	Turkish
	Hair Everywhere	Tea Tulić	Coral Petkovich	Istros Books	Croatian
2019	The Devils' Dance	Hamid Ismailov	Donald Rayfield, with John Farndon	Tilted Axis Press	Uzbek	Winner
	Soviet Milk	Nora Ikstena	Margita Gaelitis	Peirene Press	Latvian	Shortlist
	Drive Your Plow	Olga Tokarczuk	Antonia Lloyd-Jones	Fitzcarraldo Editions	Polish	Shortlist
	Lala	Jacek Dehnel	Antonia Lloyd-Jones	Oneworld Publications	Polish	Longlist
	My Name Is Adam	Elias Khoury	Humphrey Davies	MacLehose Press	Arabic
	The Clash of Images	Abdelfattah Kilito	Robyn Cresswell	Darf Publishers	French (Moroccan)
	The Peace Machine	Özgür Mumcu	Mark David Wyers	Pushkin Press	Turkish
	The Aviator	Eugene Vodolazkin	Lisa C. Hayden	Oneworld Publications	Russian
	The Book of Whispers	Varujan Vosganian	Alastair Ian Blyth	Yale University Press	Romanian
	Shatila Stories	Various authors	Nashwa Gowanlock	Peirene Press	Arabic
2020	Devilspel	Grigory Kanovich	Yisrael Elliot Cohen	Noir Press	Russian	Winner
	Pixel	Krisztina Tóth	Owen Good	Seagull Books	Hungarian	Shortlist
	Zuleikha	Guzel Yakhina	Lisa C. Hayden	Oneworld Publications	Russian	Shortlist
	Not Saying Goodbye	Boris Akunin	Andrew Bromfield	Orion Publishing Group	Russian	Longlist
	Sacred Darkness	Levan Berdzenishvili	Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner	Europa Editions	Russian translation from Georgian
	Mrs Mohr Goes Missing	Jacek Dehnel	Antonia Lloyd-Jones	Oneworld Publications	Polish
	Bellevue	Ivana Dobrakovová	Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood	Jantar Publishing	Slovak
	ICE	Sonallah Ibrahim	Margaret Litvin	Seagull Books	Arabic
	Every Fire You Tend	Sema Kaygusuz	Nicholas Glastonbury	Tilted Axis Press	Turkish
	Under Pressure	Faruk Šehić	Mirza Purić	Istros Books	Bosnian
2021	The King of Warsaw	Szczepan Twardoch	Sean Gasper Bye	Amazon Crossing	Polish	Winner
	The Pear Field	Nana Ekvtimishvili	Elizabeth Heighway	Peirene Press	Georgian	Shortlist
	Mr K Released	Matei Vișniec	Jozefina Komporaly	Seagull Books	Romanian	Shortlist
	Love in the Days of Rebellion	Ahmet Altan	Brendan Freely and Yelda Türedi	Europa Editions	Turkish	Longlist
	Grey Bees	Andrey Kurkov	Boris Dralyuk	MacLehose/Quercus	Russian
	Carbide	Andriy Lyubka	Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stockhouse Wheeler	Jantar Publishing	Ukrainian
	Hana	Alena Mornštajnová	Julia Sherwood and Peter Sherwood	Parthian Books	Czech
	No-Signal Area	Robert Perišić	Ellen Elias-Bursac	Seven Stories Press	Croatian
	The Highly Unreliable Account of the History of a Madhouse	Ayfer Tunç	Feyza Howell	Istros Books	Turkish
	Your Ad Could Go Here	Oksana Zabuzhko	Nina Murray, Marta Horban, Marco Carynnyk, Halyna Hryn, and Askold Melnyczuk	Amazon Crossing	Ukrainian
2022	The Orphanage	Serhiy Zhadan	Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler	Yale University Press	Ukrainian	Winner
	The Book of Katerina	Auguste Corteau	Claire Papamichail	Parthian Books	Greek	Shortlist
	Boat Number Five	Monika Kompaníková	Janet Livingstone	Seagull Books	Slovak	Shortlist
	Doctor Bianco and Other Stories	Maciek Bielawski	Scotia Gilroy	Terra Librorum	Polish	Longlist
	Birds of Verhovina	Ádám Bodor	Peter Sherwood	Jantar Publishing	Hungarian
	Red Crosses	Sasha Filipenko	Brian James Baer and Ellen Vayner	Europa Editions	Russian
	City of Torment	Daniela Hodrová	Veronique Firkusny and Elena Sokol	Jantar Publishing	Czech
	Manaschi	Hamid Ismailov	Donald Rayfield	Tilted Axis Press	Uzbek
	Karolina, or the Torn Curtain	Maryla Szymiczkowa	Antonia Lloyd-Jones	Oneworld Publications	Polish
	Just the Plague	Ludmila Ulitskaya	Polly Gannon	Granta	Russian
2023	The Lake	Bianca Bellová	Alex Zucker	Parthian Books	Czech	Winner
	Mister N	Najwa Barakat	Luke Leafgren	And Other Stories	Arabic	Finalists
	The Books of Jacob	Olga Tokarczuk	Jennifer Croft	Fitzcarraldo Editions	Polish	Finalists
	Mothers and Truckers	Ivana Dobrakovová	Julia and Peter Sherwood	Jantar Publishing	Slovak	Shortlist
	Invisible Woman and Other Stories	Slavenka Drakulić	Christina Pribichevich Zorić with Jacob Agee	Fraktura	Croatian
	Time Shelter	Georgi Gospodinov	Angela Rodel	Weidenfeld & Nicolson	Bulgarian
	According to Her	Maciej Hen	Anna Blasiak	Holland House Books	Polish
	Body Kintsugi	Senka Marić	Celia Hawkesworth	Peirene Press	Bosnian
	Nights of Plague	Orhan Pamuk	Ekin Oklap	Faber & Faber	Turkish
	Mondegreen	Volodymyr Rafeienko	Mark Andryczyk	HURI Books	Ukrainian
2024	The End	Attila Bartis	Judith Sollosy	Archipelago Books	Hungarian	Winner
	The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales	Ferit Edgü	Aron Aji	New York Review of Books	Turkish	Finalists
	Barcode	Krisztina Tóth	Peter Sherwood	Jantar Publishing	Hungarian	Finalists
	Niki	Christos Chomenidis	Patricia Felisa Barbeito	Other Press	Greek	Shortlist
	Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv	Andrey Kurkov	Reuben Woolley	MacLehose Press	Russian
	Exiled Shadow	Norman Manea	Carla Baricz	Yale University Press	Romanian
	History of Ash	Khadija Marouazi	Alexander E. Elinson	Hoopoe	Arabic
	Let's Go Home, Son	Ivica Prtenjača	David Williams	Istros Books	Croatian
	This Thing Called Love	Alawiya Sobh	Max Weiss	Seagull Books	Arabic
	A Sensitive Person	Jáchym Topol	Alex Zucker	Yale University Press	Czech
2025	Sons, Daughters	Ivana Bodrožić	Ellen Elias-Bursać	Seven Stories Press UK	Croatian	Winner
	Forgottenness	Tanja Maljartschuk	Zenia Tompkins	Bullaun Press (Ireland) Liveright (US)	Ukrainian	Finalists
	The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story	Olga Tokarczuk	Antonia Lloyd-Jones	Fitzcarraldo Editions	Polish	Finalists
	The Ukraine	Artem Chapeye	Zenia Tompkins	Seven Stories Press UK	Ukrainian	Shortlist
	Too Great A Sky	Liliana Corobca	Monica Cure	Seven Stories Press UK	Romanian
	Engagement	Ҫiler İlhan	Kenneth Dakan	Istros Books	Turkish
	My Women	Yuliia Iliukha	Hanna Leliv	128 LIT	Ukrainian
	Celebration	Damir Karakaš	Ellen Elias-Bursać	Selkies House Limited	Croatian
	Herscht 07769	László Krasznahorkai	Ottilie Mulzet	New Directions Publishing	Hungarian
	Life After Kafka	Magdaléna Platzová	Alex Zucker	Bellevue Literary Press	Czech

References

↑ "EBRD Literature Prize overview". ebrd.com. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
↑ Carpenter, Caroline (11 April 2018). "Love song to Istanbul scoops €20k EBRD prize". The Bookseller . Retrieved 2021-03-17.

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[ebrd-1] "EBRD Literature Prize overview". ebrd.com. Retrieved 2021-03-17.

[thebookseller-2] Carpenter, Caroline (11 April 2018). "Love song to Istanbul scoops €20k EBRD prize". The Bookseller . Retrieved 2021-03-17.

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