Europese Literatuurprijs 2025 - in conversation with Irene Solà & Adri Boon

The 2025 European Literature Prize goes to Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis (I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness) by Irene Solà, translated from Catalan into Dutch by Adri Boon (Cossee). The European Literature Prize honors the best contemporary European novel published in Dutch translation in the previous year. Both the author and the translator of the winning book are recognized; each receives €10,000 in prize money. On Saturday, November 8, Irene Solà and Adri Boon will receive the award during the Crossing Border festival. This marks the fifteenth edition of the European Literature Prize.

“Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis" is a generous novel that celebrates and curses life on a grand scale. Misery and ecstasy, love and hatred, cruelty and humor, angels and devils: everything and everyone clashes until only death can follow. Solà’s language is wild, her composition precise, her women truly unforgettable. And it is thanks to the richness of Adri Boon’s translation that we can experience this novel in all its wildness and generosity,” the jury said.

The jury, chaired by writer Niña Weijers, also included booksellers Annette Breithaupt (Boekhandel Van der Velde) and Maartje van Tessel (Boekhandel Bijleveld), journalist and essayist Jan Postma, and Karol Lesman, translator of last year’s winning book.

You may also like the following events from Crossing Border:

• Next month, 14th October, 08:00 pm, J.M. Coetzee in The Hague
• This November, 5th November, 08:15 pm, Olga Tokarczuk in The Hague
• This November, 6th November, 07:00 pm, You'll Have to Scream Louder in The Hague

Also check out other Arts events in The Hague, Literary Art events in The Hague, Festivals in The Hague.