13/06/2024
How do you start writing a novel? – “You make a mark.” 🖌️🎨
Irish writer Colm Tóibín was awarded the 14th Würth Prize for European Literature by the Würth Foundation. In his acceptance speech, he spoke about the difficulties of writing, among other things. "You make a mark," the Irish artist Barrie Cooke once told Tóibín, answering his question on how he starts a painting. "Any mark?" asked Tóibín. "Maybe, but no mark is just any mark. You make the mark for a reason. It’s simply that you don’t know the reason when you make the mark," Cooke replied. "Do you ever discover the reason?" asked Tóibín. "It's often not worth thinking about. You have begun," Cooke answered.
At the award ceremony at the Carmen Würth Forum in Künzelsau, the 69-year-old writer accepted the Würth Prize for European Literature to great applause from C. Sylvia Weber, member of the Supervisory Board of the Würth Foundation, as well as Johannes Schmalzl and Maria Würth, members of the Board of the Würth Foundation.
The prize is awarded to authors who have made a literary contribution to the realization of Europe's cultural diversity. The list of the award winners up to now goes from Hermann Lenz to Herta Müller, Peter Turrini, Peter Handke, Christoph Ransmayr, David Grossman, Annie Ernaux and reads like a Who’s who of contemporary literature. Tóibin’s latest book, "Long Island", published in May, continues the story of Eilis Lacey. In "Brooklyn" she left for New York, in "Long Island" she now returns to Ireland.
"I am grateful that the emotion in these books, unresolved and coiled as it is, given structure and some kind of shape, has been somehow shared by readers," Tóibin said in his speech in Künzelsau. "I hope these novels might offer the reader a kind of comfort, or at least a recognition."
➡️ Find out more in the press release: http://wuerth.rocks/8oj
📷 Ufuk Arslan
