- Associated Press - Thursday, May 26, 2011

PRAGUE (AP) - Irish novelist John Banville has won the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize.

An international jury that included prominent German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki and British publisher John Calder selected Banville for the prize, which is awarded annually and includes $10,000.

Past winners include the American novelist Philip Roth and Nobel laureates Elfriede Jelinek of Austria and Harold Pinter of Britain.

It is awarded by the Prague-based Franz Kafka Society to authors whose works “appeal to readers regardless of their origin, nationality and culture.”

The society said in a statement Thursday that Banville agreed to travel to Prague for an October ceremony to receive the prize.

Banville won Britain’s 2005 Man Booker fiction prize for his novel “The Sea.”

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide