We are happy and proud to announce that Steve Sem-Sandberg is awarded this year’s Eyvind Johnson Prize for his novel W.
The jury’s motivation goes as follows: “With an impressive work of details and empathy Steve Sem-Sandberg has written a shimmering dark documentary novel, which continues to build on Büchner’s incessantly performed play about Johann Christian Woyzeck’s fate. Sem-Sandberg has had the real protocols from the trial of the soldier who in a fit of jealousy killed his beloved one and was executed 1824. In an elegant way the story switches between an atmospheric chamber play and wide-angled war portrayals. Just like with Eyvind Johnson the individual keeps his secret. Are the demons in Woyzeck’s head the answer to the cause of violence, or is it famine, oppression and brutality that pervert?
W is a masterpiece in the author’s cathedralic construction of Europe’s bloody history. Therefore, Steve Sem-Sandberg is awarded the Eyvind Johnson Prize.”
You can listen to an interview with Steve Sem-Sandberg about the prize here: https://kontextforfattarsamtal.podbean.com/
