2016 Magnesia Litera winners announced

The two main awards go to Daniela Hodrová and Anna Bolavá.

Awards

Daniela Hodrová. Photo: Elena Sokol

Daniela Hodrová. Photo: Elena Sokol

The winners of the prestigious Czech literary award were announced on 5 April at the National Theatre New Scene in Prague.

Magnesia Litera — Book of the year

Daniela Hodrová: Točité věty (Spiral Sentences)

This extensive novel by the well-known author and Czech studies specialist is closely related to the life of translator and poet Bohumila Grögerová and artist Adriena Šimotová. However, it is not only a novelisation of their stories but also a profound testimony about the metaphysical anxieties of modern life.

Magnesia Litera — Prose

Anna Bolavá: Do tmy (Into Darkness)

What Anna Bolavá achieved with this book happens very rarely: Into Darkness is her prose debut, yet everyone agrees that it has none of the common shortcomings of first novels. From the beginning, this story of a lonely, ill woman who has dedicated most of her life to collecting, drying and providing medicinal plants, has apocalyptic undertones.

Magnesia Litera — For children and youth

Robin Král: Vynálezárium (House of Inventions)

This book aims to make poetry popular among school children. Robin Král strolls around the Mediterranean in search of the roots of the sonnet, rondel or Villonesque balad, throws us a cunning wink in the five verses of an Irish limerick, or shows us how the Arabic ghazal and Malaysian pantun are written.

Magnesia Litera — Poetry

Ladislav Zedník: Město jeden kámen (A City in One Stone)

In this collection, Zedník develops his own universe. The author returns to key moments of his childhood and adolescence, and his original profession, palaeontology, also plays a major role. In the book we find bizarre everyday places like the Podolí swimming pool or the cement factory in Radotín, as well as magical lands where a coastal atoll may lie just beyond the next village.

The complete list of winners can be found on the Magnesia Litera website.

CzechLit