Spanish novelist Enrique Vila-Matas has been awarded the 2015 FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages, a prize he will receive on November 28 during the opening ceremony of the 29th Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL).
Intertwining different literary genres and blurring the line between essay and fiction, Vila-Matas’ work “relentlessly questions the fragile condition of literature and reflects on its limits and challenges in a modern world,” the judging panel noted. “His view of writing as a game played with readers, with the writer as director of the work, places him in the great tradition of Cervantes, Sterne and Cortázar,” they said. “His work is captivating for its critical intelligence, humor and irony.”
Vila-Matas is the author of an extensive body of works which have been translated into 30 languages. Some of his books include Bartleby & Co. (2001), Montano’s Malady (2003), Doctor Pasavento (2006), Dublinesque (2010) and Exploradores del abismo (2007). A Knight of the French Legion of Honor, he has received more than 20 literary distinctions and prizes, including the Rómulo Gallegos, Médicis, Herralde and Gregor von Rezzori awards.
Forty-two authors from 14 countries were nominated for this year’s FIL Literary Award, which includes a prize of US$150,000.