Romanian writer Mircea Cartarescu, who won the Premio Gregor von Rezzori for best foreign fiction work translated in Italy at this year’s edition of the Festival degli Scrittori, has been nominated for the 2016 edition of the Italian literary award Premio Strega Europeo.

Cartarescu’s novel Orbitor.Corpul (Blinding. The Body) is one of the five books selected for the Premio Strega Europeo. The book was published in Italy by Voland publishing house.

The other four writers who compete for this prize are French Annie Ernaux, UK’s Kerry Hudson, Spanish Ricardo Menéndez Salmón, and Germany’s Ralf Rothmann.

On Tuesday, July 5, the five authors will be the protagonists of a special meeting organized inside the Massenzio's Basilica in Rome. In the evening, the writers will read one original text according to the theme chosen for this year's edition of the festival: Memory / Memories. The winner of the Premio Strega Europeo will be announced after the readings.

Born in 2014 on the occasion of the semester of Italian Presidency of the EU Council, the Premio Strega Europeo pays tribute to the culture of the old continent and its links with Italy.

A member of the Romanian Writers’ Union, the Romanian PEN and the European Cultural Parliament, Mircea Cartarescu is one of Romania’s best-known contemporary writers. He has won many important prizes, both in Romania and internationally, such as the 2012 Berlin Prize for Literature, the 2013 Spycher-Leuk in Switzerland, and the 2015 Austrian State Prize for European Literature.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Mircea Cartarescu on Facebook)