Romanian poet, novelist and essayist Mircea Cărtărescu was granted this year’s FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages, awarded during the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL).

He is the second Romanian to win the distinction after Norman Manea in 2016.

The jury chose Cărtărescu “for his imaginative and overflowing prose that combines fantastic and realistic elements, speculative fictions that investigate the construction of identity."

Previous winners of the award, granted since 1991, include Chile’s Nicanor Parra, Spain’s Enrique Vila-Matas, Italy’s Claudio Magris, Mexico’s Carlos Monsiváis, France’s Emmanuel Carrère, and Uruguay’s Ida Vitale. 

Cărtărescu is one of the most translated and awarded Romanian authors. A lot of his work is available in English, French, Spanish or German and can be read overall in more than 20 languages. The trilogy Blinding is one of his most translated works. 

In 2018, he won the Thomas Mann Prize, jointly awarded by the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, and the Prix Formentor (Premio Formentor de las Letras). In 2016, he won the Premio Gregor von Rezzori for best foreign fiction work translated in Italy at the Festival degli Scrittori organized in Florence. He received the award for the second volume of the trilogy Orbitor (Blinding). In 2015, he received two international literary distinctions: the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in recognition of his entire work and the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding for his trilogy Blinding.

In 2014, he received the Euskadi de Plata award in San Sebastian, and the Spanish Tormenta en un vaso award, granted to works presented the previous year at the Madrid Book Fair (Feria del Libro de Madrid). In 2013, Cărtărescu received two other awards: the Grand Award of the Novi Sad International Poetry Festival and the Swiss Spycher — Literaturpreis Leuk award. In 2012, he was awarded the Haus der Kulturen der Welt International Literature award in Berlin, while a year earlier, in 2011, he received the Vileniča International Award for Literature. In 2005, he received the Italian literary award Giuseppe Acerbi.

The FIL award, amounting to USD 150,000, will be handed to the Romanian writer at the start of this year’s FIL on November 26. 

(Photo: George Călin/ Inquam Photos)

simona@romania-insider.com