International Booker Prize for Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Photo: ANP JEROEN JUMELET | / picture alliance / ANPThe novel, which is entitled "De avond is ongemak" in the Dutch original, is told from the perspective of ten-year-old Jas. Jas doesn't want the family's rabbit to be for Christmas dinner, so she prays to God to bring her older brother over instead. On the same day, the brother had a fatal accident while ice skating.
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, born in 1991, is considered to be an important voice in young Dutch literature, with volumes of poetry, but at the latest with this debut novel, which was published in 2018. The book was also published in German translation in September 2019 under the title "Was man sät".
But the most spectacular award for this debut novel is now for the English version: "The Discomfort of Evening" is the name of Rijneveld's book in the translation by Michele Hutchison. She wins the International Booker Prize together with Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Rijneveld identifies himself as non-binary, the preferred address "they" is noted in the English language documentation for the price.
"I'm as proud as a cow with seven udders," said Rijneveld in a first reaction via video message on Wednesday.
In their laudation, the jury emphasized that they were looking for a book that not only echoed our dystopian present, but also had a timeless effect. "The Discomfort of Evening" is a gentle and profound evocation of a childhood caught between shame and redemption.
The English translation of "Tyll", the novel by Daniel Kehlmann, was also on the shortlist of the six books on the shortlist. The Literature Prize honors the best novels translated into English published in the UK. It is endowed with 50,000 pounds, the prize money is always shared by the author and translator.
Icon: The mirrorfeb / dpa