The winners of the UNESCO City of Literature Prize 2020 and the special awards were announced in Lviv. The main award – the Grand Prix – was awarded to Ukrainian writer, poet, lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin (USA) Oksana Lutsyshyna for her book "Ivan and Phoebe" and "for a subtle reflection on the events of the Granite Revolution, for deep reflection on characters rewarded by history and unnoticed by it."
"Ivan and Phoebe" is a novel set in the last years of Soviet rule and the first years of Ukrainian Independence.
After studying in Lviv and participating in the Granite Revolution, Ivan returns to his native Uzhgorod, where he marries a poet Maria, who calls herself Phoebe.
Lviv and Kyiv are cities with a turbulent political life, while Uzhgorod is characterized by a somewhat grotesque atmosphere of patriarchal family structure and early Ukrainian capitalism. Here, it is easy to do without special effects from horror or thriller: the very reality of everyday life suggests moves that can be on par with the works of King or Kusturica.
Additional special awards were given to writer and translator Ostap Slyvynsky for translating Olga Tokarchuk’s book "The Books of Jacob", and writer and translator Olena O’Lear for translating Joseph Conrad’s "Nostromo: A Seaside Tale".
The UNESCO City of Literature Prize is the largest literary prize in Ukraine awarded by the city authorities to writers or translators for an original or translated work of art published in the Ukrainian language for the first time.
The amount of the main monetary reward is UAH 150,000. Also, the provisions of the award provide for two special awards in the amount of UAH 25,000 each.
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