Lea Ypi has been named winner of the Ondaatje Prize of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL).
The Albanian author received a £10,000 prize for her 2021 novel Free, a coming-of-age biography set amid political upheaval.
The prize is awarded to an outstanding work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that, according to the organizers, “best evokes the spirit of a place.”
After the award ceremony, Ypi said she hoped the book would “sensitize people to the realities” of a country like Albania and arouse interest in its history.
“This started as a book about concepts and so it is incredible to receive this award for the best book that evokes the spirit of a place,” she said.
“It shows that concepts and places are connected.
“This is really important to me because the place whose spirit is being evoked here is Albania, a place that people don’t normally think of – it’s not a place that makes headlines unless something problematic happens.
“I hope that it will arouse people’s interest in the history of this country, which is also a history of universal importance … and that it will sensitize people to the realities that should be taken into account, regardless of whether there is a recognized crisis in a place or not.”
Ypi beat competition from five other authors – Sathnam Sanghera, AK Blakemore, Cal Flyn, Yousif M Qasmiyeh and Elif Shafak.
She was declared the winner and presented with the award by RSL President Emeritus Colin Thubron at an event at Two Temple Place in London on Wednesday evening.
The competition’s judges, Sandeep Parmar, Patrice Lawrence and Philippe Sands, said Ypi was a “master of juxtaposing grand and personal narratives.”
“As we reread Lea Ypi’s Free, we felt strongly that the book’s central themes – politics, personal history, the true meaning of freedom – spoke so powerfully to our lives today,” they said.
“Ypi’s work, both darkly humorous and deeply serious, has inspired us to think deeply about the need for truthfulness in the stories we are told and how we navigate our own lives within them.”
The author is also Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University.
Her work has been recognized with several awards, including the British Academy Prize for Excellence in Political Science and the Leverhulme Prize for Outstanding Research Achievement.
