The award, in its 14th year, is named for Giuseppe Acerbi (1773-1846), a son of Castel Goffredo as well as a writer, traveller, archaeologist, and musician. Acerbi was the first person to reach the North Pole via Finland and Lapland in 1798, and his description of the trip was published in 1799.
Each year, the award is presented to a select group of works of contemporary literature from a single nation. The aim of the award is to afford greater exposure of lesser known writers to Italian readers. This year, Hungarian writers were picked to be the recipients of the awards.
The award was presented to Grendel for his novel Einstein?s Bells. It was also presented to Miklós György Száraz, and Péter Zilahy. The books were selected with the assistance of the Hungarian Academy in Rome.
The award?s jury included 20 university professors and journalists, but the popular jury was made up of 180 readers from Mantua and the surrounding areas. In addition to the awards for prose, the city presented a special poetry award to Krisztina Tóth and a special translation award to Tomaso Kemény.
The official award ceremony will take place in Castel Goffredo on November 10 and 11.
