Libris Prize for Tirza
After the Flemish award, the Golden Owl Prize for Literature 2007, Grunberg has also won the Libris Literature Prize for his novel Tirza. The author has reserved a part of the prize money of 50,000 Euro for a new translation of the poems and prose of Heinrich Heine. The jury report stated: ‘The conviction that civilization is no more than a wafer-thin varnish is a theme that runs like a leitmotiv through all Arnon Grunberg’s work. Tirza forms no exception. In this astonishing novel, he sketches the razor-sharp exposure of an anxious neighbour whose life behind a façade of success slowly but surely dissipates in front of our eyes.’
The jury chose Grunberg’s novel from a shortlist of six books by the authors Tom Lanoye (Het derde huwelijk, The Third Marriage), Gerbrand Bakker (Boven is het stil, It Is Silent Up There), Sana Valiulina (Didar & Faroek), Louis van Dievel (De Pruimelaarstraat, Plumtree Street) and L.H. Wiener (De verering van Quirina T., The Worship of Quirina T.).