National Book Prize 2019 awards ceremony to be held this month

Further to the cancellation of the ceremony last November, the National Book Council is pleased to announce that preparations have been ongoing since last December to

organise the award-giving ceremony at the Office of the President in San Anton Palace.

The National Book Prize 2019 awards ceremony, for books published in 2018, will be held on Thursday, 30 January under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Malta, Dr George Vella. Winning authors, together with the publishers of the winning books, will be invited to receive their prize during the private ceremony.

The National Book Prize (NBP) is the highest literary prize awarded to authors, publish-ers and illustrators for works published locally during the preceding year.

In total, 34 books have made the National Book Prize shortlist across seven of the eight prize categories: Novels in Maltese and English, Short Stories in Maltese and English, Poetry in Maltese and English, Translation, General Research and Biographical and

His-toriographical Research and Literary Non-Fiction – new to this year’s edition. No sub-missions have been received in the Drama category. An independent Board, appointed specifically and solely for the purpose of adjudicating the prize, has evaluated the submissions according to a set of criteria.

The history of the National Book Prize dates back to 1971. The Terramaxka Prize for books for children and adolescents also forms part of the National Book Prize, but the awards ceremony takes place during a private ceremony coinciding with the opening of the Malta Book Festival. This year it was held on 5 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. The National Book Prize is more adult-oriented with its eight cate-gories. Starting from this year, in addition to these and to the prestigious Lifetime Achievement and the Best Emergent Writer awards, a Poet Laureate award could be be-stowed upon the writer who, if announced the recipient of the National Book Prize for poetry, would have previously won any other past National Book Prize edition. A Best

Book Production award will also be bestowed upon the best designed book published in 2018.

A significant development this year round is the monetary value of each prize which was increased to €4,000 instead of €1,000. The same applies for the Best Emergent Writer and Poet Laureate awards.

This year the categories of General Research and the Biographical and Historiographical Research carry a significant number of shortlisted titles, as does the category of Short Stories in Maltese and English. Only three titles have been shortlisted for the category of Novels in Maltese and English, and two for the Poetry category. Four finalists have made it to the Translations category and two titles have been shortlisted for the category of Literary NonFiction.

The National Book Prize 2019 shortlist was published in July and members of the public are encouraged to refer to this list as a reliable indicator of the finest literature published in 2018.

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