Serhii Zhadan’s Arabesques and Yuliya Ilyukha’s My Women have been shortlisted for the Central European literary prize Angelus, the prize’s website reports.
Arabesques is a collection of 12 short stories about people whose lives have been changed by the war. The characters include soldiers, volunteers, civilians, chance acquaintances and loved ones trying to carry on amid constant anxiety and uncertainty. The stories gradually intertwine, creating a coherent picture of life during wartime. In them, the author aims to raise themes of memory, loss, fear, closeness between people and the need to be heard.
The Polish translation of the book, by Michał Petryk, was published by Czarne.
My Women is a collection of short prose featuring emotionally charged stories told in women’s voices that are often not heard — or that people do not want to hear.
The translation of My Women was done by Katarzyna Fischer. The work was published in Polish by the College of Eastern Europe publishing house.
In total, seven authors have made it to the final. The prize winner will be announced on 17 October at a gala ceremony in Wrocław, where Ukrainian prose writer and poet, the first Angelus laureate Yuriy Andrukhovych, will perform together with the Polish band Karbido.
The main prize is 150,000 zloty. In addition, all authors whose books have reached the final will receive 5,000 zloty.
There is also a translation award worth 40,000 zloty.
About Serhiy Zhadan:
- Ukrainian writer, poet, translator, rock musician, serviceman and volunteer;
- author of the novels Depeche Mode, Voroshilovgrad, Mesopotamia, The Boarding School, the poetry collections Templars, Antenna, The List of Ships, and others;
- recipient of a number of awards, including the Freedom Prize from the German Frank Schirrmacher Foundation, the EBRD Literature Prize, the German Peace Prize, the Jerzy Giedroyc Prize (2025), and others;
- in March 2024, he was mobilised into the Khartiya Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, where he founded Radio Khartiya.
- in May this year, he became an honorary doctor of the University of Wrocław.
About Yuliya Ilyukha:
- Ukrainian writer, poet, journalist and volunteer;
- author of literary works for children and adults, including The Second Case of Sasha Siry, Eastern Syndrome, Graphomaniac Poems, Lessons of Love and Hate and others;
- in 2024, she won the BBC Book of the Year award for My Women.
- her poetry and prose have been translated into English, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Catalan, Polish, Swedish, Portuguese and French;
- in July this year, My Women was included in the Financial Times summer reading list.
About the Angelus Prize:
- a literary award presented annually since 2006 for the best prose book published in Polish the previous year;
- the laureate may be a writer from Central European countries;
- the jury honours authors for the best prose works that address the most pressing themes of the modern world and that prompt reflection and a deeper understanding of other cultures;
- among Ukrainian writers, the award has gone to Yuriy Andrukhovych for Twelve Rings, Oksana Zabuzhko for The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, Serhiy Zhadan for Mesopotamia, and Kateryna Babkina for My Grandfather Danced Better Than Anyone.