The Short List for the Yasnaya Polyana Book Award Co-founded by Samsung & Tolstoy Museum-Estate Announced

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.