Maryse Condé accepts The New Academy Prize in Literature of SEK 250 000

The French author Maryse Condé from Guadeloupe receives The New Academy Prize in Literature Sunday December 9th in Stockholm.

The prize sum of, so far, SEK 250 000 is one of the most substantial Swedish literary prizes and has been achieved through crowd funding and sponsorships.

The official program for Maryse Condé begins with a gala show and prize ceremony at Berns in Stockholm December 9 at 16.00–19.00.
The prize is presented at 17.30 and the laureate Maryse Condé will make an acceptance speech adjacent to this.

The French ambassador to Stockholm, David Cvach, the former minister of justice to French colonies, Christiane Taubira, and internationally recognized publishers, musicians, artists and actors will attend the gala and prize ceremony.

On Monday December 10 Condé will visit Rinkeby library and meet students from Rinkeby school in the same manner as the Nobel laureate has done for thirty years. In the evening of December 10 there will be a film screening and talks on Condés´ authorship at Bio Capitol, Stockholm.

Official program for Maryse Condés visit to Sweden:

Sunday December 9, 16.00 – 19.00.

Prize Ceremony at Berns – stage performance and prize giving ceremony 17.00–18.00.

Arrangement by The New Academy.

Entry for media from 15.30. Address: Berzelii Park, Stockholm.

For accreditation to prize ceremony and interview requests, contact Ulla Tillgren, ulla.tillgren(at)utillgren.se, +46(0)70-588 08 53.

erika.wallin@stockholm.se

anna.vonscheele(at)anicenoise.com

About the prize:

The New Academy Prize in Literature 2018 has an open and democratic format and the laureate is selected in three steps. Initially the Swedish librarians were invited to nominate authors for the prize. Then an open vote was held where the whole world was invited to cast its votes. More than 32 000 people have voted and four finalists, two women and two men were presented. In the final run, an expert jury reviewed the work of the finalists and selected a winner. One of the finalists, Haruki Murakami, withdrew from the prize due to time issues.

The jury's motivation:
Maryse Condé is a grand storyteller. Her authorship belongs to world literature. In her work, she describes the ravages of colonialism and the postcolonial chaos in a language which is both precise and overwhelming. The magic the dream and the terror is as also love constantly present. Fiction and reality overlap each other and people live as much in an imagined world with long and complicated traditions as the ongoing present. Respectfully and with humour she narrates the postcolonial insanity disruption and abuse but also human solidarity and warmth The dead live in her stories closely to the living in a multitudinous world where gender race and class are constantly turned over in new constellations.

The New Academy jury has consisted of Lisbet Larsson, professor in literature at Göteborg University, Gunilla Sandin, head of library and previously program director at Göteborg Book Fair, Peter Stenson, editor, critic and translator and Ann Pålsson, independent publisher and president of the jury.

The New Academy was founded when it was declared that the Swedish Academy would not present a Nobel Prize for 2018, to ensure that an international prize in literature will be awarded in 2018.