Ian McEwan to Recieve Jerusalem Prize
Image by Annalena McAfee
Israel will give its highest literary honor next month to Ian McEwan, the English author behind books including “Atonement” and “Saturday.”
A winner of the Man Booker Prize for his 1998 novel “Amsterdam,” McEwan will accept his latest honor, the Jerusalem Prize, at the start of the Jerusalem International Book Fair on February 20.
Given biannually to a foreign writer who “expresses and promotes the idea of the ‘freedom of the individual in society,’ ” the prize comes with what organizers describe as a “modest,” “symbolic” cash award of $10,000.
Since it was first given to Bertrand Russell in 1963, the prize has gone to an impressive array of literary stars, among them Simone de Beauvoir, Milan Kundera, V.S. Naipaul and Arthur Miller.
The most recent winner of the Jerusalem Prize, Haruki Murakami, received the honor in 2009 from Israeli President Shimon Peres and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
