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The winners of the inaugural European Union Prize for Literature were announced by the European Commission on Thursday. The twelve, who will each receive a €5,000 lump sum, were chosen by national juries in their respective countries and will be joined by writers from the rest of the 34 EU member states over the next two years.

The prize was founded by the European Commission as part of its Culture Programme to encourage greater circulation of literature within the EU and to showcase the diverse wealth of European creativity. The judging panels in each country, drawn from all areas of the book trade from fellow-writers to booksellers and publishers, were asked to nominate an 'emerging talent' who had published between 2 and 5 titles and whose work would most benefit from the Commission's pledge to facilitate translation.

European Booksellers' Federation, The European Writers' Council and the Federation of European Publishers all joined forces with the European Commission to sponsor the awards. The winners will receive their prizes from Henning Mankell at a ceremony in the Flagey Theatre, Brussels, on the 28th September.

AUSTRIA - Paulus Hochgatterer, The Sweetness of Life
CROATIA - Mila Pavicevic, Ice Girl and other fairy-tales
FRANCE - Emmanuelle Pagano, Les Adolescents Troglodytes
HUNGARY - Szécsi Noémi, Communist Monte Cristo
IRELAND - Karen Gillece, Longshore Drift
ITALY - Daniele Del Giudice, Movable Horizon
LITHUANIA - Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė, Breathing into Marble
NORWAY - Carl Frode Tiller, Encirclement
POLAND - Jacek Dukaj, Ice
PORTUGAL - Dulce Maria Cardos, Os Meus Sentimentos
SLOVAKIA - Pavol Rankov, It Happened on September the First (or whenever)
SWEDEN - Helena Henschen, The Shadow of a Crime

The countries participating in phase 2 (next year) are Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.

Phase 3 (2011) will involve the remaining EU members, ie, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Serbia, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

James Pryor