Ukranian writer and musician Serhij Zhadan has won the €25,000 (about $26,440) 2022 German Peace Prize, which will be presented at a ceremony in Frankfurt's St. Paul's Church on October 23 during the Frankfurt Book Fair.
As reported by Börsenblatt, the organizers said they're honoring Zhadan "for his distinguished artistic work as well as for his humanitarian efforts to help people affected by war and for doing so at the risk of his own life. In his novels, essays, poems and song lyrics, Serhij Zhadan leads us into a world that has experienced great upheaval and at the same time lives by tradition. His writings tell how war and destruction invade this world and shock people. In this way, the writer finds his own language, which leads us insistently and seeing in a different light what many have long wanted not to see. Thoughtful and receptive, in a poetic and radical tone, Serhij Zhadan reports on how people in Ukraine, despite all violence, try to lead an independent life marked by peace and freedom."
In addition to his works, some of which have been translated into English and published here by Yale University Press, Deep Vellum and Lost Horse Press, Zhadan has organized book and music festivals, participated in social and cultural projects in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia and pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and increased his humanitarian activities after the Russian invasion in February. Since 2007, he's also been a singer in the Ukranian band Sobaki v Kosmosi (Dogs in Space) and translates as well as writes song lyrics.
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Winners have been announced for the 2022 COVR Visionary Awards, honoring the best books and products of the mind/body/spirit industry. To see the many gold, silver and bronze winners, click here.