Serhiy Zhadan receives Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought 2022

The international jury of the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought has chosen the Ukrainian writer, poet and musician Serhiy Zhadan as this year’s winner. The jury praises Zhadan as »a great storyteller who continues the tradition of Central European literature while revolutionising it at the same time.«

Furthermore, the jury states: »The insights Serhiy Zhadan gives his readers into Ukrainian society and the way he talks about surviving the war (since 2014) are unique in recent European literature. In his books, readers learn how a mass of fragmented individuals, traumatised by war and hardship, creates new solidary civilian energy time and again. Zhadan not only describes the world of Ukraine, but helps understand it, in all its chaos, its suffering, its humanity. This kind of storytelling, in which the narrator is not the master but a person like everyone else, stuck in the chaos of everyday life and searching for his path, also owes much to the musical world, which Zhadan invites us to experience with his punk band ›Dogs in Space‹. At the same time, Zhadan is a great citizen in Arendt’s understanding, who cares about the society in which he lives and works by actively helping to ensure that citizens do not lose heart in the Russian war of aggression.«

The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought was created to honour individuals who identify critical and unseen aspects of current political events and who are not afraid to enter the public realm by presenting their opinion in controversial political discussions. It is funded by both the state government of Bremen and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The prize is endowed with 10,000 Euros and is awarded by an international jury. The prize ceremony will be held on December 2, 2022. Previous winners include Yuri Andrukhovych, Timothy D. Snyder, Jill Lepore, Julia Kristeva, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Claude Lefort and Agnes Heller.

For more information on Serhiy Zhadan's works, please visit the author's Foreign Rights Website or contact the respective Rights Manager.