The novel that Ruskov won for is Height (or Summit) (Възвишение) which came out in 2011, but has yet to be translated into English. If you’re interested in reading him though—and you should be, since he’s incredible talented and has a very distinctive voice—you can check out which was the inaugural winner of the Contemporary Bulgarian Novel Contest that we co-run with the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation.

In terms of Height/Summit, this was the “Story of the Week” in Missing Slate magazine, and is described by the EUPL like this:

Summit is set in Turkish-ruled Bulgaria in 1872, the feverish period known as the Bulgarian Revival. The pretentious pomp of revolutionary ideals is filtered through the consciousness of the practical Bacho Gicho and his credulous companion Asen, in a rich, crude Renaissance language which demands to be read out loud. Ruskov’s daring blows away all the patriotic clichés, without underestimating the desperate heroism of the times.

This year’s winners of the EUPL are: Ben Blushi (Albania), Milen Ruskov (Bulgaria), Jan Němec (Czech Republic), Makis Tsitas (Greece), Oddný Eir (Iceland), Janis Jonevs (Latvia), Armin Öhri (Liechtenstein), Pierre J. Mejlak (Malta), Ognjen Spahić (Montenegro), Marente de Moor (The Netherlands), Uglješa Šajtinac (Serbia), Birgül Oğuz (Turkey) and Evie Wyld (United Kingdom). You can find synopses of their books

And from the official press release, here’s some info about the prizes themselves:

Each winner receives €5 000. More importantly, they benefit from extra promotion and international visibility. Their publishers are encouraged to apply for EU funding to have the winning books translated into other languages to reach new markets.

Since the Prize was launched in 2009, the EU has provided funding for the translation of books by 56 (out of 59) EUPL winners, into 20 different European languages, covering a total of 203 translations – on average 3-4 translations per book. The winners also benefit from extra visibility at Europe’s major book fairs, including Frankfurt, London, Göteborg and the Passaporta Festival in Brussels.

This year’s Prize winners will be presented with their awards during a gala ceremony at the Concert Noble in Brussels on 18 November, in the presence of the European Commissioner for Education and Culture, members of the European Parliament and representatives of the Italian Presidency of the EU.

This is a bit of an odd prize—each year an award is given to one author from 11 or 12 of the various EU countries. The list of countries for 2009 are listed below, and 2010 will honor writers from Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Spain, with 2011 featuring Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Serbia, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom.

The winners are selected by qualified juries set up in each of the respective countries, and the winning authors have to have published between 2 and 5 works of fiction, with the winning book coming out within the past five years. (Got it?)

Anyway, thanks to EU funding, these books should be translated into a number of languages . . . maybe even English. Which would be great. There’s not a lot of info about the actual books available on the EU Prize website . . . If anyone out there is interested in reviewing any of these for Three Percent, please let me know (chad.post at rochester dot edu). It would be cool to provide some additional information about each of these books, instead of simply listing them . . . But for now, here are your first twelve recipients of the European Union Prize for Literature:

AUSTRIA
Paulus Hochgatterer for Die Sü be des Lebens (The Sweetness of Life). Published by Paul Zsolnay Verlag and in English by MacLehose Press.

CROATIA
Mila Pavicevic for Djevojčica od leda i druge bajke (Ice Girl and Other Fairy-tales). Published by Naklada Bošković.

FRANCE
Emmanuelle Pagano for Les Adolescents troglodytes. Published by Editions P.O.L.

HUNGARY
Szécsi Noémi for Kommunista Monte Cristo (Communist Monte Cristo). Published by Tericum.

IRELAND
Karen Gillece for Longshore Drift. Published by Hachette.

ITALY
Daniele Del Giudice for Orizzonte mobile (Movable Horizon). Published by Giulio Einaudi.

LITHUANIA
Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė for Kvėpavimas į marmurą (Breathing into Marble). Published by Alma Littera.

NORWAY
Carl Frode Tiller for Innsirkling (Encirclement). Published by Aschehoug. (Funny—here’s a post about Tiller from Frankfurt a few years ago.)

POLAND
Jacek Dukaj for ���Ѷ� (ICE). Published by Wydawnictwo Literackie.

PORTUGAL
Dulce Maria Cardoso for Os Meus Sentimentos. Published by Asa Editores.

SLOVAKIA
Pavol Rankov for Stalo sa prvého septembra (alebo inokedy) (It Happened on September the First (or whenever)). Published by Kalligram.

SWEDEN
Helena Henschen for I skuggan av ett brott (The Shadow of a Crime). Published by Brombergs.