Cypriot writer Hari N. Spanou has won a special mention in this year’s European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL).
The EUPL is a prize for emerging fiction writers from the European Union and beyond.
Involving the 41 countries participating in the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, it celebrates 41 outstanding new literary talents over a three-year cycle.
Τhe awards aim to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and to stimulate interest in literature.
Spanou received a special mention for her work “The Outpost,” published by Aigaion.
The novel unfolds around the disappearance of a 19-year-old soldier, Nikiforos, who goes missing in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The story follows his family and friends who go on with their lives without knowing what happened to Nikiforos.
About the author
Hari N. Spanou was born in Cyprus in 1964 and works as a physician in Nicosia. She published her first fiction book in 2015 (shortlisted for the Shorts Stories and Novella State award) followed by a novella in 2018 and a novel in 2022.
She believes that imagination is common both in medicine and literature, as an attempt to comprehend the human condition. Up until 1974, she was sure that she would become a ballerina – she was thrilled by dancing and ballet. That same year, the Turkish invasion took place while she was summering with her family in Kyreneia, her grandmother’s birthplace. The first troops landed 500 meters away, they survived; others did not. Her grandmother continued to nurture her with the stories of their seamen ancestors.
