Winners of the 2011 Magnesia Litera Award announced

The existentialist novel Zeptej se táty (Ask Your Dad) by the late Jan Balabán from Ostrava, whose publishing was preceded by the author’s death, became the Book of the Year, an accolade bestowed with a financial reward of 200,000 Czech crowns. The prize was accepted by his widow and beneficiary of his estate Petra Sasínová.  The Litera for prose went to the acclaimed documentary-maker Martin Ryšavý, whose film work has long focused on Siberia, for his novel Vrač (Witch Doctor) about the experiences of a Russian naturschik.

The Reader’s Award, determined according to the votes submitted on Magnesia Litera website and ballots distributed in Czech libraries, went to Hana Androniková for her book Nebe nemá dno (Bottomless Heaven) in which she describes her fight with cancer and the ayahuascou treatment in a South American jungle.

The renowned writer and translator Radka Denemarková, who already has two Litera awards under her belt for Peníze od Hitlera (Money from Hitler, 2007) for Best Prose and Smrt, nebudeš se báti aneb Příběh Petra Lébla (You Will not be Afraid of Death: The Story of Petr Lébl) for Best Journalism, received her third literary accolade. Once again, it was in a different category - translation of the Nobel prize for literature winner Herta Müller’s novel Atemschaukel (published in English as Everything I Possess I Carry With Me).

For further results in Poetry, Non-fiction and First Novel categories, go to the Magnesia Litera website. The footage from the awards ceremony is available via Czech TV’s i-broadcast.