Word Pass: Alexei Varlamov won the "Big Book" for his novel "Odsun"
The winner of the national literary prize "Big Book" in 2024 was the writer, rector of the Gorky Literary Institute Alexei Varlamov for his novel "Odsun". Second and third places went to Mikhail Shemyakin with his autobiography "My Life: Before Exile" and Zakhar Prilepin for his short story collection "Dogs and Other People". The latter was nominated for the "Big Book" for the second year in a row, in 2023 Prilepin won the popular vote for a large-scale biography of Mikhail Sholokhov. "Izvestia" - on the results of one of the main and largest literary awards in Russia.
Varlamov became the winner of the "Big Book" for the third time
Traditionally, one December evening (this time on the 4th) there was literally nowhere for an apple to fall in the Pashkov House at the Russian State Library. At the award ceremony of the national literary prize "Big Book" publishers, critics, writers - colleagues or competitors - came to honor the best authors of the outgoing year.
"Big Book" - one of the most expensive Russian literary awards. The prize fund is 5.5 million rubles, 3 million rubles of which goes to the winner of the first place, 1.5 million and 1 million rubles are taken by the winners of the second and third places, respectively. However, the writers themselves believe that it is much more important to get on the short and long lists of the book prize: they are the navigators of the modern literary process.
"Any world, especially the world of books, must be renewed. I believe that this is the most important event, which allows us to recognize new names, brings together so many experts, readers, connoisseurs and just amateurs. I think it is a conditional social elevator for young authors in the book world. It is a kind of symbol of the Big Book. I would like it to continue for many, many years," said the host of the evening, Director General of the Russian State Library Vadim Duda.
However, for the past few years, the vector of the Big Book has been directed toward established, well-known and major authors rather than toward new names in literature. In 2022, the "Big Book" received Pavel Basinsky for "The True Story of Anna Karenina", last year the main award went to "Chagin" by Evgeny Vodolazkin - a regular on the short list of the "Big Book" and three times its winner (in 2013, first place for "Lavra", in 2016 silver for "The Aviator"). This year, the winner of the first prize was the writer Alexei Varlamov with his novel "Odsun". It is an interesting parallel that all three are jury members of another major literary prize, the Yasnaya Polyana.
Varlamov's victory is unqualified, on the sidelines of the award only and discussed the book, the action of which unfolds almost in our days, in the 2010s. "Odsun" from Czech translates as "eviction". The novel's protagonist arrives in the Czech Republic and finds himself in an old house belonging to a family of Sudeten Germans, in whose history he finds parallels with his own.
"It was a very interesting ceremony, intelligent and good words were said. There is an opportunity to say something good, something kind, something affirmative against the weather, nature, politics and whatever. It seems to me that literature today is also about this - to support a person, to comfort a person, to strengthen a person. I tried to write a novel about the fate of a small man in the waves of big history, how he tries to stay in these waves and what comes out of it," Varlamov told reporters.
Before this evening, Alexei Varlamov received the "Big Book" twice, but not for first place. In 2007, the literary academy noted the second prize for his documentary novel "Alexei Tolstoy", and in 2022 Varlamov also received the second place for the book "Rozanov's Name", the main character of which was once a character from another work of the writer, the novel "Myslennyi Volk". According to the author, in "Odsun" he wanted to conceptualize the end of Soviet times, the collapse of the country, the birth of a new Russia, "to look 30 years later, what I think about it, how I remember it and how I feel about it."
Talking to Izvestia about the importance of the Big Book in the modern literary process, Varlamov noted that in addition to the monetary component of the prize, it is always a promotion and promotion of the book, in which any writer, both young and experienced, is interested. It is quite difficult to voluntarily give it up, although the writer drew attention to Leonid Yuzefovich. A writer who also won the "Big Book" three times, but was no longer nominated for it.
- And he didn't nominate his novel "The Bar-Hoto Campaign" this year, and maybe he has won the prize now. It's a great novel. Pavel Basinsky wasn't nominated either. It's hard to say "never say never," but I think I won 't be nominated for the Big Book either, at least in some foreseeable future, if I have something coming out. That's enough. I lacked the first prize purely humanly, but now the gestalt is closed, - said the writer.
Varlamov said that he is already working on a new book and is in the middle of the road. But details to spread the writer is not ready yet.
Shemyakin, Prilepin and "Mosfilm" among other winners
The second award of the "Big Book" went to Mikhail Shemyakin with his autobiography "My Life: Before Exile", who was unable to attend the award ceremony in person and received congratulations via video link. Third place went to Zakhar Prilepin and his collection "Dogs and Other People". Receiving the award, Prilepin said that the book is dedicated to his driver, guard and assistant Alexander Shubin with the call sign Evil. He died during an assassination attempt on Prilepin in Nizhny Novgorod in May 2023. "And tomorrow is one year seven months since he died by my side. Sasha, thank you for life," Prilepin said while receiving the award.
In the category "Litblog" won Elena Nescheret from St. Petersburg, the author of the Telegram-channel "Marselization". The jury of the special prize "Generation's Choice" chose as the winner Nadia Alexeeva's novel "Midnight" with the wording for "a sincere and inspiring story in which the past and the present are united and allow us to look to the future with hope".
The special prize "For Contribution to Literature" was awarded to the film concern "Mosfilm". "In cinematography literature is primary, without literary material it is impossible to make a movie. In this sense, for me and for the staff of "Mosfilm" it is a great honor. Thank you very much, I am very touched and I wish success to all the writers who participate in this contest. I hope it stimulates the emergence of new literary works, which, in turn, stimulate us, filmmakers, to create interesting and important films", - said in a video message, General Director of "Mosfilm", director Karen Shakhnazarov. Alexander Borodyansky - screenwriter of the films "Voroshilovsky Shooter", "Courier", "We Are From Jazz" and "Afonya" received the prize.
The winner of the popular vote on the site of the book portal LiveLib was the novel "Ulan Dalai" - the debut for the writer Natalia Ilishkina. In October, the same book won the Audience Choice Award and the Yasnaya Polyana Prize. Yana Wagner's The Tunnel won second place in the Big Book popular vote, and Darya Bobyleva's The Shop Runs Until Darkness Falls took third place.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
