Novi Sad, May 2026. We are pleased to inform you that the following writers have been shortlisted for The Aleksandar Tišma International Literary Prize: Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria), Miljenko Jergović (Croatia), Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), Slobodan Šnajder (Croatia), Lea Ypi (Albania).
The international jury consisted of Ilma Rakusa, László Márton, Mathias Énard, Vladislava Gordić Petković, and Karl-Markus Gauß.
The works of all shortlisted authors have been published in Serbia. They have highly distinguished literary careers, and some of them have received prestigious international literary awards.
The Aleksandar Tišma International Literary Prize is presented by the Aleksandar Tišma Foundation with the aim of preserving and promoting the literary legacy of the great writer from Novi Sad, as well as introducing Serbian literature and culture to internationally acclaimed authors.
The award is presented every two years for an outstanding literary work or for a writer’s overall literary oeuvre. In accordance with the Foundation’s regulations, the awarded work may be written in any language, but it must have been translated and first published in one of the European languages – English, French, or German – within the two years preceding the year in which the award is granted.
The jury will make the final decision on the laureate by the end of May, while the award ceremony will traditionally take place on June 24, 2026, at Matica srpska.
Previous recipients of this prestigious award are László Darvasi (2019), David Albahari (2022), and Cécile Wajsbrot (2024).
