Czech novelist Arnost Lustig awarded Kafka Prize

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

PRAGUE (AFP) — Czech author Arnost Lustig has been chosen as the eighth winner of the annual Franz Kafka literary prize, the Czech association commemorating the famous Prague author announced Tuesday.

"The decision to award the prize to Lustig was taken by the jury," Daniela Uherkova of the Franz Kafka association told AFP. He was selected by a 15-strong panel of world-renowned authors, she added.

Lustig follows in the footsteps of last year's winner, French poet Yves Bonnefoy. Previous recipients include British playwright Harold Pinter, American author Philip Roth and Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami.

Born into a Jewish family in 1926, Lustig was transported to Buchenwald and Auschwitz death camps as a teenager by the Nazis.

He escaped a train...