Leo Tolstoy Museum Estate Yasnaya Polyana and Samsung Electronics, co-founders of the annual Yasnaya Polyana Book Award, have opened the new literary season and presented a detailed program for the evolution of the Award.

In 2017 the Award celebrates its 15-year anniversary. This anniversary season the Award undergoes an evolution in its structure. From now on it has three nominations.

“The fifteenth anniversary season will be signified by massive changes. We took a risk and presented the Yasnaya Polyana Award in its more concentrated and pure form. I would like to thank Samsung for its consistent support of Russian literature and the Yasnaya Polyana Award,” — said Vladimir Tolstoy, Yasnaya Polyana Book Award jury chairman and adviser to the President of the Russian Federation on cultural issues.

Modern Russian Prose becomes the main nomination of the Award. It singles out a work of a modern author that stands out and carries the ideals of the love for humankind and deserves to be read right away because it sets the stage for trends in the literature of today. Publishing houses, “thick” literature journals, prize winners of the past years and writers’ unions can nominate works for participation in the competition.

“The revision of the nomination list serves as evidence of the fact that the Yasnaya Polyana Award is alive. Leaving out the Childhood. Boyhood. Youth nomination does not mean that we refuse to consider literature for the younger generation; from now on it will be competing on par with modern Russian prose. And so it should. Tolstoy wrote The Prisoner of the Caucasus specifically for the children, and eventually it became a novel for everyone. This seems to be the right way to go for the literature for the younger generation,” said Pavel Basinsky, Yasnaya Polyana jury member, Russian literary scholar and critic.

The nomination Foreign Literature remains unchanged. Similar to past years it will single out the most important foreign novel of the twenty-first century and its translation into Russian. The long list is put together by the limited number of experts in the nomination: literary critics, translators and publishers.

“The Foreign Literature nomination is one of the most successful ideas not only for our award, but for the whole literature world. We should show interest not only towards Russian literature, but to foreign literature as well and to the context in which Russian literature exists. In whose other name can we award a foreign author? Only in Leo Tolstoy’s name. A wonderful nomination,” commented Evgene Vodolazkin, Yasnaya Polyana jury member, writer and PhD in philology.

“For the time being we leave out the Modern Classics nomination. Among the winners in this nomination in the past years are Valentin Rasputin, Andrey Bitov, Yuri Bondarev, Fazil Iskander, Vladimir Makanin. It seems like currently there are no names that we could compare to these side by side. We do not exclude the possibility that in the future we will return to this nomination – time will tell,” commented Vladimir Tolstoy, the jury chairman.

In the 15^th anniversary year of the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award a new nomination joins the list: The Event nomination. The goal was to celebrate the most significant event in the cultural life as seen by the jury and experts (a festival, a theatrical performance, a mass medium, a documentary, a novel screen adaptation).

“We have high hopes for the nomination The Event, which will become a surprise both for the public and for the winners. So far we do not know who it the winners will be – play or movie directors, documentary authors or journalists. We ourselves are very excited to see who the winners will be, but so far we are keeping it in secret,” said Aleksey Varlamov, Yasnaya Polyana jury member, Russian prose writer and researcher of the Russian literature in the 20^th century.

In the Award’s anniversary year the prize fund distribution among winners in different nomination also changed:

• Modern Russian Prose nomination — three million rubles. For 2017 the prize fund for this nomination increased by almost 150%. The sums for shortlist finalists remained unchanged and stand at one million rubles each;

• Foreign Literature nomination will also consist of two parts: the foreign writer winner will receive one million two hundred thousand rubles, and the translator of the winning novel into Russian will receive 500,000 rubles. The increase in the prize sum for the translator by 250% is intended to signify the importance of their work;

• The winner in the new nomination The Event will receive 500,000 rubles.

The special Samsung prize nomination Readers’ Choice remains a part of the Award. The author of the book that received the majority of votes in the readers’ open web poll will receive this prize and get a chance to visit the Republic of Korea.

Apart from that, in the anniversary year for the Award Leo Tolstoy Museum Estate and Samsung Electronics will organize a range of events with the participation of Yasnaya Polyana jury members and nomination winners. These events would include public lectures and meetings with readers, literary exhibitions and festivals, joint projects with theaters and much more.

“Since Samsung began its work in Russia it has actively supported cultural projects. Among them is the long-term partnership with the Bolshoi Theater, the State Hermitage Museum and the Peterhof State Museum Reserve. 2017 is the anniversary year for our partnership with Leo Tolstoy’s Museum Estate Yasnaya Polyana, and our joint project, the Yasnaya Polyana Award celebrates its 15-year anniversary. We greatly value this partnership and are proud of the fact that the Award is among the most well-known and respected Russian literary awards,” commented Kim Ui Tack, head of Samsung Electronics CIS.

The annual Book Award Yasnaya Polyana was cofounded by Leo Tolstoy Estate Museum and Samsung Electronics in 2003. Every year prizes are awarded to authors whose works follow the humanistic and moral ideals of classical Russian literature. The jury members select the best traditional form literary reads in their respected categories. Currently it is the broadest annual literary award in Russia.

More detailed information is available on the website of the Award.

About the Award

The Award supports the traditions of classical Russian literature and relevant trends of modern Russian literature. Among the members of the jury which is chaired by the great grandson of the writer Vladimir Tolstoy, are famous Russian writers, literary critics and public figures. The Award winners in different years were Narine Abgaryan, Vladimir Grigorenko, Guzel Yahina, Evgeny Vodolazkin, Aleksey Ivanov, Zakhar Prilepin, Vasily Golovanov, Mikhail Tarkovsky, Roman Senchin.

Jury members:

• Lev Anninsky, Soviet and Russian literary critic, writer, publicist and literary scholar;
• Pavel Basinsky, Russian literary scholar and critic;
• Aleksey Varlamov, Russian prose writer, researcher of Russian literature in the 20^th century;
• Evgene Vodolazkin, writer, PhD in philology, winner of the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award;
• Valentin Kurbatov, writer, pulicist, literary critic;
• Vladislav Otroshenko, Russian writer and essayist, winner of the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award;
• Vladimir Tolstoy, jury chairman, adviser to the President of the Russian Federation on culture, journalist.

Co-founders of the Yasnaya Polyana Award, the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate and Samsung Electronics have announced the short list for the “XXI Century” and the “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” categories for 2016.

The Yasnaya Polyana book award was founded in 2003 by the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate and Samsung Electronics. Every year the award is given to writers, whose work carries in itself ideals of humanity, mercy and ethics. A panel of experts chooses the best traditional literary works in the “Modern Classics”, “XXI Century” and “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” categories, as well as the “Foreign Literature” and “Readers` Choice” categories introduced in 2015 with support from Samsung. The cumulative prize fund is 7 million rubles.

In 2016 the short list in the “XXI Century” category consist of:

• Abgaryan Narine. Three Apples Fell from the Sky. – M.: AST, 2015
• Aflatuni Sukhbat. Generation of maguses. – M.: Ripol Classic, 2015
• Grigorenko Alexandr. A blind man lost a fife. – M.: “Oktyabr” Journal, №1, 2016
• Minaev Boris. Soft fabric. First title: Batiste. Second title: Cloth. – M.: Vremya, 2016
• Eisner Vladimir. Pomegranate island. – SPb: “Napisano perom”, 2015
• Yusefovich Leonid. Winter road. – M.: “Oktyabr” Journal, №4, 5, 6, 2015

In 2016 the short list in the “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” category consist of:

• Moskvina Marina, Govorova Yulia. You, above all, write about love. – M.: Gayatri, 2016.
• Nefedova Marina. Forester and his nymph. – M.: Nikea, 2016
• Yakovleva Yulia. Raven`s children. – M.: Samokat, 2016

In June 2016 the long list for the award was announced, which consisted of 68 works: 42 books in the “XXI Century” category and 26 writings in the “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” category. In total in 2016 there were 197 works nominated for the award: 69 books for children and teens and 128 books of contemporary authors, published both as books and in literature journals.

The list of the books included into the long list of the “Foreign Literature” category was announced in March 2016. The short list for this category is not formed; the name of the winner will be announced at the award ceremony in October.

Readers` voting on the recommendation service LiveLib.ru will start in the beginning of October. An author, scored most of the readers` votes, will receive a special prize from Samsung “Readers` Choice” and will have a trip to Soth Korea. The voting is held based on the short list in the category “XXI Century”.

“We have read and discussed a lot of great and surely worthful books, but not nearly all of them were included in the short list afterwards. That`s because our choice is driven not only by professional reasons but also by intuition. As our main goal is not just to mention talented writers but also to see the trends of Russian modern literature”, – said Vladimir Tolstoy, Chairman of the jury of Yasnaya Polyana book award, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on Cultural Matters.

“With pleasure I take book of the authors – winners and finalists of Yasnaya Polyana literature award – as possible setting for interesting joint projects in the future. The jury is serious, the award has a great name and it is also really good that it is supported by Samsung”, – commented Art director of the Theatre of Nations Evgenii Mironov.

“Narine Abgaryan is a name well known to the readers. Remain true to what makes literature literature – sole and destiny – on one side in the new short novel she writes with unbelievable love and plasticity. The book “Three Apples Fell from the Sky” is about kindness, light and love. In her own way Abgaryan expressed physical, sun, soul and human light. Beautiful Russian language and belonging to Russian classical literature make this book very important”, – pointed out Alexei Varlamov, Yasnaya Polyana book award jury member, writer and researcher of the 20th-century literature.

“What is an amazing power of Leonid Yusefovich`s novels? They are written based on archive materials, but at the same time they are outstanding pieces of art. I have always been astonished by how it is possible: if you follow the document, you can`t really move anywhere. But it appears that there is a third way – deep, deep into a character and a hero. Yusefovich is a maestro мастер of precise and deep characters”, – said Eugene Vodolazkin, Yasnaya Polyana book award jury member, writer, Doctor of Philology.

“Among many important and in their ways unique projects that Samsung Electronics supports in Russia, Yasnaya Polyana book award is the key one for us. The values of the award – support and development of classic traditions in modern literature – are very important for us. We feel proud that we cooperate with Yasnaya Polyana for over 13 years and we are sure that we will continue doing it in the future”, – said Natalya Malyova, Head of Public Relations and Sponsorship Projects Department of the Samsung Electronics in CIS.

Writers, included in the short list (finalists), will share 1 000 000 rubles, the winner will receive 2 000 000 rubles. The winner in the “Modern Classics” category will be chosen by the jury, his award will be composed of 1 500 000 rubles. Money reward in the “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” category is 500 000 rubles, the finalists of the category will share 300 000 rubles.
The winners will be awarded in the end of October in Moscow.

About the award:

Yasnaya Polyana book award is the biggest annual literature award in Russia. It was created 14 years ago by the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate and Samsung Electronics. In the main category “XXI Century” Yasnaya Polyana award is given to the modern writers` works that carry in themselves ideals of humanity, mercy and ethics. Guzel Iakhina, Evgenii Vodolazkin, Elena Katishonok, Mikhail Tarkovskii, Liudmila Saraskina, Zakhar Prilepin, Aleksei Ivanov became its winners at different times.

The award is also given in two additory categories. The “Foreign Literature” category chooses most important foreign books and their translations into Russian language. The “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” category awards books, important for the time of growing up.

In 2015 the award was given in the special Samsung “Readers’ Choice” category for the first time

The total amount of the award fund is 7 000 000 rubles. Here is how awards are allocated to the winners in the categories:

• Category “XXI Century” – 2 000 000 rubles
• Category “Modern Classics” – 1 500 000 rubles
• Category “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” – 500 000 rubles
• Award fund for the short list finalists – 1 000 000 rubles
• Award fund for the “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth” category finalists – 300 000 rubles
• Award fund for category “Foreign Literature”: 1 000 000 rubles – a foreign writer winner, 200 000 rubles – the winner`s book translator into Russian language.

The jury of the award

• Leo Anninskii, Soviet and Russian literary critic, writer, publicist, theorist of literature;
• Pavel Basinskiy, Russian theorist of literature and literary critic;
• Alexei Varlamov, writer and researcher of the 20th-century literature;
• Eugene Vodolazkin, writer, Doctor of Philology, Yasnaya Polyana literature award winner;
• Valentin Kurbatov, writer, publicist, literary critic;
• Vladislav Otroshenko, Russian writer and essayist, Yasnaya Polyana literature award winner;
• Vladimir Tolstoy, chairman of the jury, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on Cultural Matters.

About Museum-Estate «Yasnaya Polyana»

The museum-estate “Yasnaya Polyana” is a unique memorial and nature reserve, the place where L.N. Tolsoty lived and worked.  “Yasnaya Polyana” – is a large cultural center, where International writers’ meetings, International translators’ seminars of L.N.Tolsotoy and other Russian writers, scientific/educational lectures in partnership with the “Prosfvetitel” award, International art festival “Geniuses’ garden”, literature and art exhibits take place.

Co-founders of the Yasnaya Polyana Award, Samsung Electronics and the Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate have announced the long list for the “Foreign Literature” nomination.

The Foreign Literature nomination was introduced in 2015 and highlights the most significant 21st century foreign fiction books, as well as their translations into Russian. A panel of experts includes translators, foreign publishers and literary critics and journalists. The prize fund for the Foreign Literature category is divided into two parts: the winner (a foreign writer) will receive 1 million rubles while the translator will receive 200,000 rubles.

In 2016 the long list for the Foreign Literature category includes 31 works by authors from Austria, the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey, Sweden, France and RSA (see Appendix, p.3). The short list in this category is not formed; the jury will directly choose the winner. In 2015, the first laureates in this category were Ruth Ozeki, for her novel titled “A Tale for the Time Being,” and Yekaterina Ilyina, the novel’s Russian translator. The 2016 winner will be announced in October 2016. Books included in this category long list became an invaluable gateway to contemporary foreign literature.

“As the president of the jury, I am pleased that we have had the Foreign Literature Nomination since the last year. We are proud of the lists that we presented last year as well as this year. Tastes differ, but these books can be recommended for reading without any hesitation, because they are really brilliant pieces of literature. I would like to thank Samsung, the co-founder of the award, for the support and cooperation”, – said Vladimir Tolstoy, the Сhairman of the Yasnaya Polyana prize committee and Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on Cultural Matters.

“The new category for the Foreign Literature propelled the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award to the international stage. As a global corporation and co-founders of the Award, we are delighted to contribute to promoting classical literary traditions in Russia and abroad,” – said Natalya Malyova, the Head of Public Relations and Sponsorship Department of the Samsung Electronics CIS.

“The Foreign Literature category long list is not just a list of books for reading, but also a reflection of contemporary world literature trends. The introduction of international nomination enables us to incorporate our literature into the global context, and the world literature in Russian context,”– said Vladislav Otroshenko, a member of the Yasnaya Polyana Award jury, writer and essayist.

“The list is interesting because it presents not only the well-known authors, but also those about whom we have known almost nothing before. Thanks to Yasnaya Polyana Award and Samsung we were able to discover new names and present them to Russian readers,” – said Alexey Varlamov, a member of the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award jury, writer and researcher of the 20th-century literature.

“There’s nothing more scary than the ‘what to read?’ question for a literary critic. As critics, we may say much on a specific author or a novel. But when it comes to giving advice, this is what is called a deadlock. And this list of 31 books is the most distinct and could be recommended for everyone,” – said  Natalia Kochetkova, Foreign Literature Category expert.

The annual Yasnaya Polyana literature competition recognizes works that preserve the traditions of classic literature and also represent relevant trends in modern Russian writing. Prizes are awarded for the best traditional literary work in the following categories: Modern Classics, XXI Century, Childhood, Adolescence, Youth. With Samsung’s support, two new categories were added in 2015. These include Foreign Literature and the Samsung Readers’ Choice special prize.

Distribution of the prize fund

• XXI century – 2 000 000 rubles,
• Modern Classics – 1 500 000 rubles,
• Childhood, Adolescence, Youth – 500 000 rubles.

The short listed authors receive the sum of 1 000 000 rubles, which will be divided amongst the winners in the XXI century category. Finalists in the Childhood, Adolescence, Youth category receive 300 000 rubles.

The prize fund of the Foreign Literature category is divided into two parts: the foreign author receives 1 000 000 rubles, and the translator of the winning book receives 200 000 rubles.

* In order to view the Appendix, please refer to the PDF below.