CCA News
CCA Writer-in-Residence Daniel Alarcón Awarded International Literature Award
Posted on Sunday, October 25, 2009, by Jim Norrena
Celebrated Peruvian writer Daniel Alarcón, fall 2009 writer in residence in the MFA Program in Writing, was named a prizewinner of the first International Literature Award—Haus der Kulturen der Welt 2009—for his debut novel, Lost City Radio (HarperCollins 2007; Wagenbach 2008). The award brings awareness of outstanding and exemplary new works of literature from around the globe.
The juried International Literature Award is issued by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin) and the Stiftung Elementarteilchen (Hamburg). Alarcón and Lost City Radio translator Friederike Meltendorg (she translated the novel from English) were each honored September 30 at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt with cash prizes of 25,000 and 10,000 Euros, respectively.
Bernd M. Scherer, director of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, observes: "Since its founding in 1989, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt has fostered an awareness of the polyphonic and multilingual nature of literary creation. We are delighted to have found a partner in the Stiftung Elementarteilchen, who shares our commitment to promoting international literature in this country. Translation between cultures is more important today than ever; while writers tell us about the complexity of our global world, translators act as mediators between language worlds."
The endowed literature prize is “awarded to new works of contemporary international literature and their translations. The award has two aims: to draw attention to contemporary literature across the globe and to pay tribute to the mediatory role played by literary translators.” The 2009 selection of entries represented 81 publishers, totaling 131 titles by authors originating from 53 countries and translated from 33 languages.
Alarcón, an associate editor of Etiqueta Negra, an award-winning magazine published in his native Lima, has also written, among other works, El rey siempre está por encima del pueblo, a story collection published in Mexico. He has won numerous literary prizes, including a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Magazine Award (NMA), as well as Guggenheim and Lannan fellowships.
Alarcón lives in the United States and also is a visiting scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley.
To learn more about the prestigious award, including a list of jury members, visit the Haus de Kulturen der Welt website.