Europese Literatuurprijs 2025 - in conversation with Irene Solà & Adri Boon
Moderator
Anna Luyten
Europese Literatuurprijs 2025 awarded to Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis
The 2025 European Literature Prize goes to Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis (I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness) by Irene Solà, translated from Catalan into Dutch by Adri Boon (Cossee). The European Literature Prize honors the best contemporary European novel published in Dutch translation in the previous year. Both the author and the translator of the winning book are recognized; each receives €10,000 in prize money. On Saturday, November 8, Irene Solà and Adri Boon will receive the award during the Crossing Border festival. This marks the fifteenth edition of the European Literature Prize.
“Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis is a generous novel that celebrates and curses life on a grand scale. Misery and ecstasy, love and hatred, cruelty and humor, angels and devils: everything and everyone clashes until only death can follow. Solà’s language is wild, her composition precise, her women truly unforgettable. And it is thanks to the richness of Adri Boon’s translation that we can experience this novel in all its wildness and generosity,” the jury said.
The jury, chaired by writer Niña Weijers, also included booksellers Annette Breithaupt (Boekhandel Van der Velde) and Maartje van Tessel (Boekhandel Bijleveld), journalist and essayist Jan Postma, and Karol Lesman, translator of last year’s winning book.
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Photography by: Ignasi Roviro
AUTHOR
Irene Solà
About Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis (I Gave You Eyes and You Looked into the Darkness)
Hidden among the cliffs of the Catalan mountains, a place where wolf hunters, criminals, and deserters cross paths, the Clavell farmhouse clings stubbornly to the earth. Inside, the elderly Bernadeta lies on her deathbed and the women of her family gather to say their farewells. The spirits of the women who have already passed away also assemble in the old farmhouse, forming a vivid and diverse company. The matriarch, Joana, wishes to welcome Bernadeta on the other side, and so the women of different generations prepare an elaborate feast.
The story unfolds over a single day while spanning more than four centuries. It intertwines legends and folklore, raising questions about memory and forgetting: which stories are preserved and which are lost, whose voices are heard and believed, and what myths shape the way we understand the world today?
Irene Solà (Malla, 1990) is a poet and novelist. Her previous book, Ik zing en de berg danst (I Sing and the Mountain Dances), spent two years on the Catalan bestseller list, after winning, among others, the Premio Anagrama and the European Union Prize for Literature. The book was also selected as one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews and The Guardian.
Her latest novel, Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis (I Gave You Eyes and You Looked into the Darkness), has been translated worldwide and was awarded the Premi Lletra d’Or, the prize for the best book in the Catalan language. Trouw named it one of the best books of 2024.
Ik gaf je ogen en je keek in de duisternis
Photography by: Teun Grondman
TRANSLATOR
Adri Boon
Adri Boon (Amsterdam, 1961) studied Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Amsterdam. During his studies, he developed an interest in literary translation, and he has since translated works from Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish. He has lived for extended periods in Barcelona, Lisbon, and Madrid to immerse himself in the languages and cultures. His translations range from classical authors such as Eça de Queiroz, Galdós, and Josep Pla to contemporary writers including Clarice Lispector, Irene Solà, and Irene Vallejo.
Boon has received the European Literature Prize twice: in 2022, he was awarded the prize for his translation of the Nocilla trilogy by the Spanish author Agustín Fernández Mallo.
