British author received the State Prize for Literature – salzburg.ORF.at

In Salzburg, British author Zadie Smith was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature on Friday. Governor Wilfried Haslauer and Culture Minister Gernot Blümel (both ÖVP) presented the award.

The 42-year-old writer received the prize of 25,000 euros at a ceremony at the Solitär of the Salzburg Mozarteum University. The prize is awarded annually for the literary work of a European author who has received special international attention.

The ceremony is traditionally held on the official day of the opening of the Salzburg Festival. "Smith has the heart of a great narrator," said juror Norbert Mayer today in his eulogy, and Blümel said: "The works of Smith significantly contribute to the feeling of European identity. "

The jury praises "great versatility" 19659005] The jury justified its decision for the British author stating that "Smith has shown great versatility" since its inception "Teeth Show" (2000) ) and "stayed true to its leitmotif": "What is the importance of ethnic origins? and skin color in 21st century Europe? How do you manage to leave one's own environment, and is it what a desirable goal in the first place? Where do we come from and to where does it determine our life plan? "

In his acceptance speech at the Mozarteum, Smith has says, "my letter describes the living". He was small, full of anecdotes and bbadities, living in the realm of the social, "this impure and imperfect world" and hoping to bring people back from an absolute picture system. "Not" Muslims ", but Alsana to" show the teeth "not" the privileged white ", but Howard's" Beauty "sent Smith back to his fictional characters.

Warning of Nationalism and Xenophobia

Smith has warned She called for human integration "in our social realities." Parallel societies operating in New York, where ethnically and culturally distinct neighborhoods coexist, are an example of social agreement "of course, not without anger and without Nevertheless, it is a real example of the unique flexibility of democracies, "for the way in which they can unite multiplicity – even if imperfectly."

Debutroman brought success

Born as the daughter from an English father and a Jamaican mother in London in 1975, studier Te Smith taught English in Cambridge and quickly gained international fame with his first novel "Show Teeth", which presents a contemporary and multicultural London through the glbades of three ethnically diverse families. The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages ​​and adapted to television. 19659003] His follow-up novels were also celebrated, including "Von der Schönheit" (2005) and "London NW" (2012), in the London district where Smith himself grew up. Today, she is a professor at the University of New York in London and at the Big Apple. She has already received numerous awards for her books and has published collections of dissertations in addition to fiction.

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