Mircea Cartarescu grabs "Thomas Mann" Prize for Literature on 2018

Writer Mircea Cartarescu was awarded the "Thomas Mann" Prize for Literature on 2018, one of the most important German literary awards.

"I've just learned with great emotion the news that I'm the winner of the Thomas Mann Prize for Literature on 2018. I'm deeply grateful to the jury and the Bavarian Academy, too and the City of Lubeck which are to grant this prize to me," Cartarescu wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

According to the Zsolnay Publishing House, the EUR 25,000 is a joint grant on behalf of the Lübeck city and the Academy of Fine Arts of Bavaria, and will be handed to Cartarescu on 17 November, in a ceremony hosted by the Lübeck Theatre.

"In the past four decades, Mircea Cartarescu has become the most important voice of the Romanian literature, through his poetry volumes firstly, then through his novels, stories and essays, with the 'Orbitor' unconventional, polyphonic romantic trilogy joining the world literature," said the jury in their motivation.

* * *

Born on 1 June 1956, in Bucharest, Mircea Cartarescu graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Romanian Language and Literature in 1980.

Poet, novelist, essayist, literary critic and publicist, Cartarescu is a Romanian trademark not only in the German literary milieus.

In 2015, Cartarescu was granted the noted Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding.

His work has been translated in German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, as they were awarded by the Romanian Academy, the Writers Union of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, the Culture Ministry, the ASPRO, the Bucharest Writers Association and the Publishers Association of Romania.

Moreover, he had been previously awarded the Vileniča International Prize for Literature (2011), the "Haus der Kulturen der Welt" International Prize for Literature, Berlin (2012), the Spycher - Literaturpreis Leuk Prize, Switzerland (2013), the Great Prize of the International Poetry Festival of Novi Sad (2013), the Tormenta en un vaso Prize, Spain (2014), the Euskadi de Plata Prize, San Sebastian (2014), the State Prize of Austria for European literature (2015), the "Giuseppe Acerbi" literary prize, Castel Goffredo, Italy for "Nostalgia", in 2015, too, the Leteo Prize, Spain (2017).

Moreover, Mircea Cartarescu was awarded the "Faithful Service" National Order in the rank of Commander (2000), the "Cultural Merit" Order in the rank of Great Officer of A category (2006), the "Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres" Medal (2008), the "Nihil Sine Deo" Medal of the Royal House of Romania (2016).

Mircea Cartarescu is a professor with the Faculty of Letters within the University of Bucharest.AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Maria Voican, editor: Bogdan Gabaroi)