National Book Prize and Terramaxka Prize shortlist announced

The National Book Council has announced the shortlist for the 2022 National Book Prize and Terramaxka Prize for books published in 2021.

Now in its 45th edition, the National Book Prize is the highest literary prize assigned to authors, editors, translators, publishers and illustrators and serves as a guide to standout books published in Malta during the preceding year.

The shortlist has been selected by an independent adjudication board appointed annually by the National Book Council according to a set of established criteria.

The 2022 shortlist includes 63 titles selected out of 199 longlisted and eligible works received by 28 March 2022; 43 books have been shortlisted across the eight National Book Prize categories, and 20 books for children and young adults have been shortlisted in the six Terramaxka Prize categories.

The categories of the National Book Prize for adults are Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Drama, Literary Non-Fiction, Translation, General Research, and Biographical and Historiographic Research. The categories in the Terramaxka Prize are Original Works for Children ages 0–7, 8–12 and Young Adult Literature, books in Translation for Children ages 0–7 and 8–12, and Young Adult Literature in Translation.

The National Book Council said that most of the books shortlisted will resonate with current affairs and debates, not least in the Novels category, where the spectre of war in Europe hangs over titles by Lou Drofenik, Toni Sant, and Aleks Farrugia.

“The popularity of the short story among writers and readers of fiction is once again reflected in this year’s extensive shortlist, as is the rising number of translations of world literature into Maltese. Non-fiction is similarly well represented and consistent with trends observed over the past editions, while the categories for general research and biographical and historiographic research feature a wide-ranging shortlist of accomplished titles covering a significant number of Melitensia subjects, urbanism, art-history and beyond,” the NBC said.  

The 2022 National Book Prize process was launched in May 2022 with the publication of the longlist.

The winners in each category of the National Book Prize and the Terramaxka Prize will be selected in the coming months and will be announced during an award-giving ceremony on 4 November 2022.

All of the National Book Prize shortlisted books are available in local bookstores and online shops and will be sold at the upcoming 2022 Malta Book Festival from 23 to 27 November held at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre (MFCC), Ta’ Qali.

For further 2022 National Book Prize news and all other National Book Council initiatives, follow us on Facebook or visit ktieb.org.mt