Authors receive EU literature prize 

The prize, worth €5,000 to each of the winning authors, is designed to "highlight and promote the full diversity of European literature" by recognising emerging authors writing in their native tongues. 

Yesterday's ceremony, attended by 800 people from across the European cultural sphere, saw authors from twelve countries receive the new award in the presence of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth. 

The European Commission estimates that the EU book industry generates annual sales revenues of around €23bn. 

But controversy currently reigns in Europe, with many authors and publishers worried that this income is under threat from Google's book search project. 

Google Books allows users to view books or extracts of millions of books online, many of which are titles available in the public domain, including copyrighted material reproduced with the permission of the rights holder, as well as out-of-print works. 

EU competitiveness ministers have even asked the Commission to investigate the project's economic implications (EurActiv 27/05/09). 

For its part, in late 2008, the EU executive launched its own Internet library, 'Europeana', giving access to hundreds of thousands of books, many of which are rare or out-of-print altogether (EurActiv 21/11/08). 

Governments and the EU institutions, meanwhile, are aware that the right balance must be struck between supporting initiatives that improve citizens’ access to cultural and research material on the one hand, and protecting intellectual property rights on the other. 

The first phase of the awards recognised works by authors in EU members Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden, as well as non-EU countries Croatia and Norway. 

Further ceremonies will follow in 2010 and 2011 to ensure that authors from all 34 countries participating in the European Union's Culture Programme are rewarded. 

Yesterday's winners, selected by national juries in each country, included France's Emmanuelle Pagano for Les Adolescents troglodytes, Italy's Daniele Del Giudice for Orrizonte mobile, and Sweden's Helena Henschen for I skuggan av ett brot. 

The European Commission hopes the award will help make European readers more open to foreign literature, and boost their interest in the best new books from abroad. 

EU Culture Commissioner Ján Figel' said: "This prize spotlights the excellence of literary talents in Europe and all they have to offer. It shows that Europe is brimming over with creativity. The prize is aimed at getting the works of new authors off the book shelves and into the hands and hearts of people across Europe."