Upon the proposal of the Foundation's Board of Directors, renowned writer and Nobel laureate Peter Handke has accepted to be the honorary president of the Aleksandar Tišma Foundation. Handke has been an active member of the Foundation’s jury for the International Prize for Literature since its establishment in 2016. Given the fact he considers Tišma to be one of the greatest European writers, whom he often revisits, in a conversation with Andrej Tišma, the writer emphasized his desire to personally contribute to the new publication and reading of Aleksandar Tišma's works worldwide, as well as to assist the Foundation's work.
Peter Handke
Foto: Wikipedia
Karl-Markus Gaus
Foto: Wikipedia
Almost twenty years ago, Peter Handke wrote the following: "Whenever I read his books, which speak solely of victims and executioners, I thought: Yes, that's how it is - and I wanted to follow him in my own work. Only my language, my dreams, and even my images in the act wanted something different from the very first sentences. Is that utopian in me indelible? But Tišma and his books for me remain a case of light or works for the state of, not only the present day, but the world in general."
The Board of Directors has chosen one of the most esteemed Austrian writers, Karl-Markus Gauß, as a new member of the jury. Karl-Markus Gauß (Salzburg, 1954) is a contemporary Austrian writer, essayist, and editor. He resides in Salzburg. Since 1991, Gauß has been the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Literatur und Kritik. His books have been translated into several foreign languages and have received numerous awards, including the Prix Charles Veillon Prize, the Austrian Art Award for Literature (Österreichischer Kunstpreis für Literatur), the Johann-Heinrich-Merck Prize, the Jean-Améry Prize, and the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding (Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europäischen Verständigung). Karl-Markus Gauß became a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry in 2006.
Members of the jury for the Aleksandar Tišma Prize, Ilma Rakusa (Switzerland), Mathias Enard (France), Karl-Markus Gauß (Austria), Vladislava Gordić Petković (Serbia), and László Marton (Hungary), will for the third time select the new laureate on June 24, 2024. The previous recipients of this prestigious award are László Darvasi and David Albahari.