Rein Raud is the winner of the Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature

The Plague Train was published in 2023. It is a fast paced and cinematic story centering around medical officer Jakob Sarapik who is sent to Manchuria to deal with the consequences of an outbreak of plague and who later works in Tallinn Central Prison. The Head of the Estonian delegation to the Baltic Assembly Timo Suslov expressed his happiness over the fact that Raud, who had also been nominated for the Prize last year for his previous novel, managed to bring it home this year. “The last Estonian winner of the BA Prize in Literature Kai Aareleid has said that there were few writers that compared to Rein Raud in the Estonian literature post-Jaan Kross. Not many have a similarly masterly grasp of character building, storyline construction, or a language rich in metaphors – not to mention the erudition that underlies each sentence. It is a pleasure to introduce Latvians and Lithuanians to his world,” Suslov said.

The Baltic Assembly Prize in the Arts was awarded to the Latvian film director Dāvis Sīmanis whose movie Maria’s Silence depicts pivotal events in Baltic history and was well received at Berlinale 2024. The Prize in Science was given to the Lithuanian researcher Limas Kupčinskas for his outstanding scientific research into the digestive system and liver diseases and innovations in treatment.

Estonia nominated painter Kristi Kongi for the BA Prize in Arts and renominated the Professor of Media Studies of the University of Tartu Andra Siibak for the Prize in Science for her research work on opportunities and risks linked to the introduction of new digital technologies, which she has been studying for the past five years.

The Baltic Assembly Prize consists of a monetary prize, a certificate, and a statuette, which are presented every year at the Baltic Assembly session. This year, the Prize Awarding Ceremony will take place during the 43^rd Session of the Baltic Assembly, on 18 October in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Jury consisted of artists and experts from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (photo by Baltic Assembly): Vano Allsalu, Karl Martin Sinijärv, Ragne Kõuts Klemm, Donata Mitaitė, Ramutė Rachlevičiūtė, Valdemaras Razumas, Ieva Kolmane, Edīte Tišheizere, and Valdis Muktupāvels.

The Baltic Assembly has been awarding the Prizes in literature, the arts and science since 1994. The aim of the prizes is to promote the development of these fields in the Baltic States.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
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Link uudisele: Rein Raud is the winner of the Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature

Source: Parliament of Estonia