Arnon Grunberg will receive the PC Hooft Award 2022 for his novels and stories.The five-member jury calls the 50-year-old author “a writer of unparalleled ambition, productivity and intellectual strength.”

Grunberg debuted in 1994 in his early twenties with blue monday She has been publishing novels, stories, articles, columns and reports at a rapid pace ever since. His most famous works are novels asylum seeker (2003) in Tirza (2006). He has already received several literary awards, but the PC Hooft Prize, perhaps the most famous, has not yet been presented.

“Without wanting to establish a hierarchy in the awards you have won, this award of most is the best you can win as an author in terms of honors and commitment,” says Grunberg in his response. “When I read the jury report, I understand what Karel van Het Rief once wrote when he won the PC Hooft: It contains things you hope to read about your work one day.”

The jury praised Grunberg for his curiosity and social commitment, among other things. “In his own realm of fiction, Grunberg has developed his own style, language, and grammar in which he combines horror, tenderness, irony and honesty,” the report says. “In doing so, he has made a tremendous contribution to Dutch literature.”

€60,000

The PC Hooft Prize is awarded annually, alternately, to a writer of prose, essays, or poetry. And the award went last year to the poet Alfred Schafer. The former PC Hooft Award for Prose 2019 went to 101-year-old Marga Minko.

A sum of €60,000 is attached to the PC Hooft Prize. Grunberg will receive the award in May.