Mircea Cărtărescu's novel Theodoros is on the shortlist of nominations for Prix Médicis 2024. The jury announced the second selection on October 9, and Theodoros was added to the list of foreign novels. 

"Published this autumn in French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Bulgarian, Theodoros is one of the most acclaimed novels of this year in the world, enjoying enthusiastic reviews in the most important publications," local publishing house Humanitas announced on Facebook.

The French edition of the novel appeared in August at Noir sur Blanc Publishing House, translated by Laure Hinckel.

The complete list of titles added to the second Prix Médicis selection is available here. The winners will be announced on November 6 during an awards ceremony organized at the La Méditerranée restaurant in Paris.

An award-winning poet, novelist, literary critic, journalist, and professor, Mircea Cărtărescu is one of the most translated and awarded Romanian authors. Much of his work is available in English, French, Spanish or German and can be read in about 25 languages.

His book Solenoid was awarded the Dublin Literary Award (2024) and named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, The Financial Times, and Words Without Borders.

At the beginning of September, Cărtărescu became writer-in-residence at Columbia University in New York. He will teach the four-week course "Postmodernism vs. Tyranny: A Romanian Literary Revolution," which discusses the history and impact of the legendary Generation of the 1980s in Romanian literature and its relationship to the Beat generation and American postmodernism.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Humanitas)