THE German novel “Encounter” (German: “Widerfahrnis”), penned by 70-year-old writer Bodo Kirchhoff, was announced as the Foreign Novel of the Year at the 21st Century Best Foreign Novel of the Year 2017 award ceremony in Beijing on Friday.

Co-sponsored by China Publishing Group Corp, People’s Literature Publishing House, Chinese Association of Foreign Literature and Taofen Foundation China, it is the longest-running award in China recognizing the best foreign novels to be published in Chinese.

In the award’s 16th year, the Foreign Novel of the Year category honors the German novel “Encounter,” which recounts the story of a down-on-their-luck German couple helping a little refugee girl during their trip to Sicily, Italy.

“We gave ‘Encounter’ the biggest prize not only because of its unflinching portrayal of the reality of the refugee crisis in Europe, but also for its ruminations on the difficulties of human communications,” says Nie Zhenning, chairman of Taofen Foundation China and director of the general judging panel of the award. It is a story that readers across the world can relate to, he adds.

Nie likened the general vibe of “Encounter” to American writer Jack Kerouac’s 1957 magnum opus “On the Road.”

“I believe that readers in China will come to understand the current state of mind of Europeans once they read the book,” says Kirchhoff, who couldn’t attend the ceremony to receive the award, in a video.

Kirchhoff was born in 1948 in Hamburg, West Germany. He studied pedagogy and psychology at Frankfurt University from 1972 to 1979 and completed his doctoral thesis. He is an award-winning fiction writer and has also written movie screenplays. In 2016, “Encounter” won the German Book Prize.

Three other novels, “La Noche de la Usina” written by 51-year-old Argentinian novelist Eduardo Sacheri, “La Bambina e il Sognatore” by Nobel Prize-nominated Italian feminist writer Dacia Maraini and “La Cheffe, Roman d’une Cuisiniere” by French novelist and playwright Marie NDiaye, are winners of Best Foreign Novel, an other awards category.

The award jury, which consists of literature translators, scholars and publishing editors, considers new foreign novels each year based on metrics including literary value, social impact and significance to humanity, according to Xiao Liyuan, deputy chief-editor of People’s Literature Publishing House and member of the judging panel.

Since its commencement in 2001, the award has gone to 94 novels from 26 countries. Past winners of the award include French writers Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio and Patrick Modiano, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008 and 2014 respectively.

(China Daily)