Colm Tóibín to receive 14th Würth Prize for European Literature
Irish writer Colm Tóibín will be awarded the 14th Würth Prize for European Literature. According to the jury, the prize awarded by the Würth Foundation will be presented to Tóibín “for his artful representation of people in his novels and stories, as well as for the lucid literary interpretations provided in his essays and lectures.” The author was found to be “one of the greatest European storytellers of his time.” The Würth Foundation will award the prize, which is endowed with EUR 25,000, at Carmen Würth Forum in Künzelsau in early summer 2024.
Multi-award-winning Colm Tóibín, born in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in 1955, is considered one of the most important Irish authors of today. His oeuvre includes novels such as “Nora Webster” (2014) and “The Blackwater Lightship” (1999), but also spans across journalistic texts, reviews, drama, and more. He became widely known internationally with his captivating novel “The Master” about his favorite novelist, the American-British writer Henry James (2004). His novel “Brooklyn” (2009) was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film. As a screenwriter, he collaborated with Volker Schlöndorff on the script for the feature film “Return to Montauk” (2017). Most recently, his novel “The Magician” (2021) was published, in which he traces the life of Thomas Mann.
“Tóibín transfers the 19th century art of introspection, which was brought to mastery by Jane Austen, George Eliot and Henry James, to the 21st century, broaching the modernization of technology and civilization as well as the disruptions in gender relations,” the jury of the Würth Prize for European Literature highlighted in their statement. “Especially his heroines excel by their charisma: Irish emigrant Eilis Lacey from Enniscorthy in ‘Brooklyn’, the widow experiencing the return of a dead man beyond all chilling romanticism in ‘Nora Webster’, Clytemnestra, who confidently stands by her deed in the retelling of the Oresteia ‘House of Names’ (2017), and last but not least Mary, who is given a so far unheard voice to protest against her canonization as the Mother of God in ‘The Testament of Mary’ (2012).”
About the Würth Prize for European Literature
The Würth Prize for European Literature, endowed with EUR 25,000, is awarded every two years. The jury, chaired by C. Sylvia Weber, Executive Vice President of the Würth Group for Arts and Culture and Member of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Foundation, is composed of: Prof. Dr. Lothar Müller, Prof. Dr. h. c. Ulrich Raulff, Denis Scheck, Marie Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wertheimer and the 2022 winner of the Würth Prize for European Literature, Annie Ernaux.
Previous winners:
• 2022 Annie Ernaux
• 2020 David Grossman
• 2018 Christoph Ransmayr
• 2016 Peter Handke
• 2014 Péter Nádas
• 2012 Hanna Krall
• 2010 Ilija Trojanow
• 2008 Peter Turrini
• 2006 Herta Müller
• 2004 Harald Hartung
• 2002 Claude Vigée
• 2000 Claudio Magris
• 1998 Hermann Lenz
