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| http://www.russiatoday.ru/entertainment/news/13714 |
'Big Book' authors line up for award finals
Finalists of Russia’s prestigious "Big Book" literary award have met with their readers and journalists in Moscow. The winners will be announced in November. Meanwhile, the jury members have to choose from twelve books that have made it to the short-list.
Writer Vladimir Makanin leads the decision-makers this year.
"There are many literary awards now in Russia, and that's good, as there is no over-excitement. The aim of any award is first of all to trace the current literary process, to get a clearer image of contemporary literary life in the country," Vladimir Makanin, writer and Jury Chairman, says.
Many of the nominated novels are now presented at the International Book Fair in Moscow.
Among the best-sellers is “Daniel Stein, Translator” by Ludmila Ulitskaya, which is a patchwork of private stories, picturing the destiny of the Jewish Diaspora in the 20th century. And there's “Empire V” by Russia’s popular postmodernist writer Viktor Pelevin.
Dina Rubina, a Soviet-born writer, who now lives in Israel, was short-listed for her novel “On the Sunny Side of the Street”. She says, no literary awards are as important to her as her reader’s devotion.
"For me the biggest award is the print-run of my books. Of course, any writer is ambitious in a certain way, and official recognition means something. But for me all these things are just the icing on the cake of popularity," she explained.