The Jan Michalski Prize for Literature is an admirable undertaking (though they appear entirely indifferent to any sort of publicity, making apparently no effort to publicize anything about the prize, I guess preferring to work in what amounts to close to secret).
There are quite a few international author prizes, awarded for a lifetime's work, that are truly global and widely respected (the Nobel and the Neustadt leading the pack), but there are very few book prizes -- awarded for a specific title -- with an international ambit.
Yes, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award comes close, but recall, it's restricted to works at least available in English (in translation or original) -- and then there's also the dubious selection method of the longlist (libraries nominate, and far too often they pick hometown favorites).
What's special about the Jan Michalski Prize (worth a solid CHF 50,000) is that:
They've now announced the five finalists for this year's prize -- all but one of which are available in English (though only one was written in English, and the spread of languages these were written in is, indeed, impressive):
It's unfortunate that they don't just focus on fiction, but include non as well; still, it's a pretty solid shortlist. The winner will be announced in November; I'll try to remember -- since I doubt you're likely to hear about it anywhere else .....
What's special about the Jan Michalski Prize (worth a solid CHF 50,000) is that:
The Jan Michalski Prize for Literature is attributed each year by the Foundation to crown a work of world literature. An original feature of the Prize is its multicultural nature. It is open to authors from the world over and is intended to contribute to their international recognition. The Prize will be awarded for works of fiction or non fiction, irrespective of the language in which it is written.(It's an admirable ideal, but of course limited by what the judges can read; some of the works are clearly judged in translation (though not just English translation, at least, since that would really limit the field), so it's not entirely an equal opportunity prize.)
They've now announced the five finalists for this year's prize -- all but one of which are available in English (though only one was written in English, and the spread of languages these were written in is, indeed, impressive):
- L'Aigle et le Dragon by Serge Gruzinski
- The Colonel by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
- The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sem-Sandberg
- The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
- The Walls of Delhi by Uday Prakash
It's unfortunate that they don't just focus on fiction, but include non as well; still, it's a pretty solid shortlist. The winner will be announced in November; I'll try to remember -- since I doubt you're likely to hear about it anywhere else .....