The European Literature Prize is awarded by het Nederlands Letterenfonds – the Dutch Foundation for Literature – for the best contemporary European novel published in Dutch translation in the preceding year. The award goes to both the author and the translator of the winning novel, each of them receiving € 10,000 in prize money. As well as chair author Niña Weijers, the jury for the prize consists of Ronnie Terpstra (Van der Velde bookstore), Astrid Bamberg (Hijman Ongerijmd bookstore), author and reviewer Ilse Josepha Lazaroms and Karina van Santen, the translator of last year’s winning book. They selected the shortlist from a longlist compiled by booksellers from all over the country.

The State of European Literature is organised by the Faculty of Humanities of the UvA , in collaboration with the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES), the Amsterdam School for Regional and Transnational and European Studies (ARTES), the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies (OSL), and SPUI25. This year, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) has joined the initiative. The annual State of European Literature wishes to enhance awareness of the pivotal role of the key values of literature and culture for the current and future state of Europe: curiosity, imagination, reflection, critique, translation, eloquence, tradition, invention (in random order).