Three novels, a volume of poetry, a biography, an essay and a historical reportage have been selected by the jury as finalists of the 26th Nike Literary Award.

The final of this year’s competition will take place on 2 October at the University Library in Warsaw. The following nominees will compete for the award: “Outcast. 21 Scenes from the Life of Zygmunt Bauman” by Artur Domosławski; the poetry volume ‘Mondo cane’ by Jerzy Jarniewicz; the historical reportage ‘They. Homosexuals during World War II’ by Joanna Ostrowska; Anna Cieplak’s novel ‘Dissolve’; Edward Pasewicz’s novel ‘Pulverkopf’; Maciej Plaza’s novel ‘Golem’; and Kacper Poblocki’s essay ‘Rabble’.

The winner will receive a statuette designed by Gustaw Zemla and the main prize of PLN 100,000. This year, the jury which will decide who will receive the Nike Prize is composed of: Marek Beylin, Inga Iwasiów, Iwona Kurz, Tadeusz Nyczek, Magdalena Piekara, Szymon Rudnicki, Maria Topczewska and Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz. The jury is chaired by Professor Przemysław Czapliński of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

The Nike Literary Award is granted annually for the best book of the previous year. The competition is addressed to books representing all literary genres, including humanistic works ‘of outstanding literary value’. The Literary Award is accompanied by the Nike Readers’ Award.

Last year, the Nike Award was given to Zbigniew Rokita for his book Kajś. The author was honoured not only with the jury prize, but also with the readers’ prize. A year earlier, Radek Rak won the award for his novel A Tale of the Serpent’s Heart or a Second Word about Jakub Szela.

The most successful authors in the history of the competition were Olga Tokarczuk and Wiesław Myśliwski, who are also the only artists in the history of the competition to have been awarded twice.

Adrian Andrzejewski