Big Book Award Bets on New Names

MOSCOW. The long list of the Big Book Award has been unveiled.

The intrigue of one of the country’s major literary awards - the Big Book - will continue until November 30. Which of the applicants will go to the finals will become known on the last day of spring. The specificity of a long list published recently is the proximity of the masters, regulars of the writers’ lists (Rubina, Pelevin, Genis, Sorokin, Danilkin, Volos) and authors not so publicized. The latter are larger than usual. For various reasons, the incorruptible jury did not find it possible to miss a number of well-known authors on the next round and give odds to neophytes. The geography of the works sent to the competition is impressive - Russia, America, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, China.

The long list contains books that have been nominated and received awards in other literary competitions. Last year, the “Appendix” by Alexandra Petrova won the Andrei Bely Prize in the “Prose” category and entered the shortlist of “NOSA-2016”. Anna Kozlova’s “F20” has good chances of winning the “Nationalbest-2017”, as well as the “Patriot” of Andrei Rubanov, also nominated for both prizes.

The genre palette of the presented works is impressive. Documentary prose by Anna Starobinets “Look at him”, describing the dramatic events from the author’s life. The “Debtor” of Andrei Volos ”is a continuation of the doomsday tetralogy. The epic "Falcon Frontier" by Sergei Samsonov, vivid and ironic memoirs of Alexander Genis. The tragic story of Ksenia Dragunskaya "Kolokolnikov-Podkolokolny" about the fate of several classmates. An unexpected Leninian version of Lev Danilkin, the story of a conspiratorial specialist in Russian classics “Manaraga” by Vladimir Sorokin, the epistolary story of Dina Rubina “The Babian Wind”.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru