Book World Prague award goes to Belarussian writer Alexievich

This year’s Book World Prague festival Jiří Theiner Prize has been awarded to Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, who has in turn dedicated the prize to Ukrainian authors taking part in the event, the Czech News Agency reports. The Nobel Prize winning author was unable to attend the festival in Prague herself due to bad health. The award was therefore accepted by Ukrainian writers Yevheniya Kononenko and Olesia Mamchichov.

The Jiří Theiner Prize was created in 2011. It was first awarded to people who have had a significant impact on propagating Czech literature. However, starting this year, the award is now focused on individuals supportive of democracy who are voices of freedom against censorship, the Czech News Agency writes.

The Book World Prague festival kicked-off on Thursday and is set to run until the end of Sunday this week.