Please see the announcement below:
20th Edition of the “Ignatius Silone” International Prize
The award ceremony for the “Ignazio Silone” International Prize, a prestigious literary event that pays homage to the figure of the famous writer born in Pescina in 1900, is now in its twentieth edition, and will be held in Pescina on the 29th and 30th of April. An event, sponsored by the Region of Abruzzo and organized through the joint efforts of the Municipality of Pescina and the “Centro Studi Iganzio Silone,” which will take place in the beautiful setting of the fourteenth-century monumental complex that now houses the theater San Francesco, as well as the museum Ignazio Silone, and the hall conference dedicated to the writer in the historic center of the city.
Biographies of the winners and motivations of the contributions
Drago Jančar is a writer, playwright, and essayist born in Maribor (Slovenia) in 1948, from a partisan family. Interested from a very young age in the arts of literature and journalism, he headed several newspapers and magazines during his time at university, an endeavor which cost him a few months in prison on the charges of making hostile propaganda against the communist regime. After the traumatic experience of military service in Serbia, during which he underwent fierce harassment for his “subversive” attitude, he returned to Slovenia to devote himself exclusively to writing, theatre, and film. Following the death of Tito, with the gradual democratization of the country, he managed to find the right resources to publish his novels, works mainly concerned with social molds, in which sensitive issues are analyzed, such as the relationship between man and repressive institutions, with a laconic but often stinging style. There is a strong non-fiction component to his literary work, in which the author analyzes the political and social affairs of Europe and Slovenia, primarily supporting the civil commitment proceedings and the protection of minorities. Considered one of the greatest living Slovene writers, a winner of renowned national and international awards, his works have been translated into 18 languages.
In the light of his life experience, experience that has led him to produce a wise and committed literature, Jančar is being awarded this prize for the following reasons:
“Narrator, essayist, playwright, journalist, Drago Jančar’s writing is realistic and imaginative, with a style steeped in irony; an exquisite poet of Slovenia, freedom, democratic values, the feeling of friendship among peoples. The more those who are persecuted or destroyed by power or by ignorance, all the more “Christian” feelings emerge, resonating high, bright, universal.”
