The Man Booker International Prize (http://www NULL.themanbookerprize NULL.com/man-booker-international-prize-2015) has been awarded, in a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, the first non-anglophone author to win since Ismail Kadaré in 2005. The prize, worth £60,000, is awarded not for a single work but for a lifelong contribution to literature. The translators’ prize of £15,000 will be shared between Krasznahorkai’s translators, George Szirtes and Ottilie Mulzet. Comparing him to Kafka and Beckett, the chair of the judges, Marina Warner, described Krasznahorkai as ‘a visionary of extraordinary intensity and vocal range who captures the texture of present day existence in scenes that are terrifying, strange, appallingly comic, and often shatteringly beautiful’, adding that he had ‘been superbly served by his translators’.

Eight of this year’s finalists were authors translated into English: Alain Mabanckou (French) from Congo-Brazzaville, Marlene van Niekerk (Afrikaans) from South Africa, César Aira (Spanish) from Argentina, Hoda Barakat (Arabic) from Lebanon, Maryse Condé (French) from Guadeloupe, Mia Couto (Portuguese) from Mozambique and Ibrahim al-Koni (Arabic) from Libya. The two shortlisted Anglophone writers were Amitav Ghosh from India and the American Fanny Howe.

For an interview with Ottilie Mulzet about translating Krasznahorkai’s work, click here (http://www NULL.theparisreview NULL.org/blog/2014/07/21/recalcitrant-language-an-interview-with-ottilie-mulzet/).

For articles (in English) on Krasznahorkai published by Hungarian Literature Online, please click here (http://www NULL.hlo NULL.hu/news/booker_prize_2015_goes_to_laszlo_krasznahorkai).