The Russian author Maria Stepanova has won the Berman Literature Prize for In Memory of Memory (Fitzcarraldo Editions).

Stepanova received the prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on Monday evening (23rd October). More than 300 invited guests attended, including Sweden’s minister for culture Parisa Liljestrand.

The prize is SEK 750,000 (£55,400) and also includes a work of art in paper in the form of several pop-up books by Rang Li i and Nina Ulmaja.  

The poet Ida Börjel gave a speech and the donors Catharina and Thomas Berman and the chairman of the jury Daniel Pedersen presented the award before Stepanova gave a speech.  

The prize jury said: “Maria Stepanova is being awarded the 2023 Berman Literature Prize for her genre-transcending family saga In Memory of Memory. With winding, finely honed prose she breathes life into pictures, objects, places and documents, in a portrayal of the transformative power of memory, both for individuals and for forgotten collectives.”  

In Memory of Memory is “a wonderful book”, jury chairman Pedersen said, “in which poetic reflections, theoretical reasoning and family saga are united and truly capture both individual and collective destiny in a remarkable literary construction”. Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2021 the UK and recognised by numerous other awards. She has also been published by other presses such as Bloodaxe Books. 

The Berman Literature Prize rewards an author whose works embody the statutes of the prize, in the spirit of the Jewish tradition and literary works aiming to explore Jewish culture.