Tokarczuk’s opus magnum, it is an over 1000-page historical novel about an 18th-century Eastern European cult leader named Jacob Frank. A young Jew, he was a charismatic self-proclaimed messiah, who travelled through the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires. In the book, his story unfolds through diary entries, poetry, letters and prophecies.
The Books of Jacob was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK in 2021 and by Riverhead in the United States in 2022, in a translation by Jennifer Croft.
The other two books in the finals of the EBRD Literature Prize are by authors from the Czech Republic and Lebanon.
The EBRD Literature Prize is awarded to the year’s best work of literary fiction translated into English, originally written in any language of the EBRD’s regions where it currently invests, and published for the first time by a European publisher.
The prize is worth EUR 20,000 and is equally divided between the winning author and translator. The two runners-up and their translators receive a prize of EUR 4,000 each.
The winning author and two runners-up, along with their translators, will be announced on June 15 at an award ceremony to be held at the EBRD’s headquarters in London.
(mk/jh)