Kateřina Tučková wins Angelus Central European Literature Award for Bílá Voda
Czech author Kateřina Tučková won the Angelus Central European Literature Award for her novel White Water, taking home both the main jury prize and the Natalya Gorbanevskaya Reader’s Prize, Seznam Zprávy reported. The literary prize, established in 2006 by the Polish city of Wrocław, honors outstanding works of contemporary Central European prose translated into Polish, selected from 23 countries of Central and Eastern Europe to address current themes and promote cultural understanding.
Literary triumphs and historical precedents
The victory marks the second time a Czech novel has received the Angelus award. The first Czech recipients in 2009 were Josef Škvorecký and his translator Andrzej Jagodziński for the book The Engineer of Human Souls. This year’s winning translation of White Water was completed by Julia Różewicz, who founded Afera publishing house, which also published the awarded prose. Among previous laureates of the prize besides Serhiy Zhadan and Georgi Gospodinov are Saša Stanišić, Oksana Zabuzhko, Yurruy Andrukhovych, and Péter Esterházy. In the Czech Republic, the novel White Water has previously won the State Prize for Literature, first place in the fiction category of the Deník N Book of the Year poll, the Lidové noviny Book of the Year 2002 title, and the Czech Bestseller award in the Czech adult fiction category. Tučková also received other awards for her earlier novels The Expulsion of Gerta Schnirch and Goddesses of Žitková, holding awards such as Magnesia Litera, the Josef Škvorecký Award, the Czech Bestseller, a 2017 Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Award from the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and the Premio Libro d’Europa from the Salerno festival in Italy, with her books translated into twenty languages.
Contrasting literary contenders and jury recognition
The shortlist featured prominent Central European voices, including previous Angelus winners Serhiy Zhadan and Georgi Gospodinov, alongside Milena Marković. According to the jury, Tučková’s winning novel successfully bridges rigorous historical research with complex character arcs and broad epic dynamics tied to the history of Bohemia and Moravia. In acceptance remarks, Tučková emphasized the political weight of the Natalya Gorbanevskaya Reader’s Prize, named after the Russian poet and dissident who lived from 1936 to 2013 and protested the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, sending a vital message to our country.
Residency prize dedication and cultural disputes
Alongside the reader’s prize, Tučková received a residency fellowship in Wrocław. Because she works from home as an author and mother, she announced she will transfer the residency stay to Ukrainian writer Yuliia Iliukha and her son, citing maternal solidarity and Ukraine’s ongoing defense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who translated White Water into Polish?
Julia Różewicz of Afera publishing house, translated the novel into Polish.
Which publishing house released the Polish edition?
The Wrocław-based publishing house Afera released the Polish edition of the novel.
What historical event is depicted in the novel?
The novel portrays a desolate village where Lena Lagnerová seeks refuge from a past pushing her toward suicide, finding only a few nuns led by Sister Evarista. Evarista arrived in Bílá Voda on the last night of September 1950, when the communist regime embodied by Father Plojhar dragged all nuns to concentration monasteries during Action R, subjecting them to forced labor, communist prison humiliation, and torture to renounce their faith in God.
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