# Jan Michalski Prize

Jan Michalski Prize for Literature (French: Prix Jan Michalski) is a Swiss literary prize for any work of fiction or non-fiction published anywhere in the world in any language. It is meant to recognize authors from around the world and world literature in general. The jury is multicultural and multilingual in composition.
The award was launched October 2009 and the first winner was announced November 2010. The winner receives CHF 50,000. The authors of finalists are invited for a three-month period of residence in the Maison de l'écriture.
The prize was created by the Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature (Fondation Jan Michalski pour l’Ecriture et la Littérature), founded in 2004 at the initiative of Vera Michalski-Hoffmann in memory of her husband Jan Michalski. It is located in Montricher, Switzerland.

## Honorees

| Year | Author | Original title | English, French or German translation | Result | Ref. |
| 2010 | Aleksandar Hemon | The Lazarus Project | The Lazarus Project | Winner | |
| 2010 | Yousef Al-Mohaimeed | فخاخ الرائحة | Wolves of the Crescent Moon | Finalists | |
| 2010 | Tim Flannery | The Weather Makers | The Weather Makers | Finalists | |
| 2010 | Laurent Binet | HHhH | HHhH | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Péter Esterházy | Harmonia cælestis | Celestial Harmonies | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Alois Hotschnig | Im Sitzen läuft es sich besser davon | | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Viktor Malakhov | Уязвимость любви | | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Frédéric Martinez | Claude Monet, une vie au fil de l’eau | | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Klaus Merz | Der Argentinier | | Nominee | |
| 2010 | Pavel Sanaev | Похороните меня за плинтусом | | Nominee | |
| 2011 | György Dragomán | A fehér király | The White King | Winner | |
| 2011 | Miguel Syjuco | Ilustrado | Ilustrado | Finalists | |
| 2011 | Sjón | Skugga-Baldur | The Blue Fox | Finalists | |
| 2011 | Liu Xiaobo | — | No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems | Nominee | |
| 2011 | Peter Fröberg Idling | Pol Pots leende | Pol Pot’s Smile | Nominee | |
| 2011 | Mark Kharitonov | Проект Одиночество | | Nominee | |
| 2011 | Antoni Libera | Godot i jego cień | | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Julia Lovell | The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China | The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China | Winner | |
| 2012 | Martin Pollack | Kaiser von Amerika: Die große Flucht aus Galizien | | Finalists | |
| 2012 | Timothy Snyder | Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin | Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin | Finalists | |
| 2012 | Philippe Cassard | Franz Schubert | | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Patrick Deville | Kampuchéa | | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Mark Gevisser | Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred | Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Donald Ray Pollock | The Devil All the Time | The Devil All the Time | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Maria Rybakova | Острый нож для мягкого сердца | Couteau tranchant pour un cœur tendre | Nominee | |
| 2012 | Bruno Smolarz | Hokusaï aux doigts d’encre | | Nominee |
| 2013 | Mahmoud Dowlatabadi | زوال کلنل | The Colonel | Winner | |
| 2013 | Serge Gruzinski | L’aigle et le Dragon: Démesure européenne et mondialisation au XVIe siècle | | Finalists | |
| 2013 | Steve Sem-Sandberg | De fattiga i Łódź | The Emperor of Lies | Finalists | |
| 2013 | Robert Macfarlane | The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot | The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot | Second selection |
| 2013 | Uday Prakash | — | The Walls of Delhi | Second selection |
| 2013 | Janusz Głowacki | Good night, Dżerzi | | First selection | |
| 2013 | Chan Koonchung | 盛世：中國，2013年 | The Fat Years | First selection | |
| 2013 | Charu Nivedita | ஸீரோ டிகிரி | Zero Degree | First selection | |
| 2013 | Tiphaine Samoyault | Bête de cirque | | First selection | |
| 2013 | Enrique Vila-Matas | Chet Baker piensa en su arte | | First selection | |
| 2013 | Chris Ware | Building Stories | Building Stories | First selection | |
| 2014 | Serhiy Zhadan | Ворошиловград | Voroshylovhrad | Winner | |
| 2014 | Mark Gevisser | Dispatcher: Lost and Found in Johannesburg | Dispatcher: Lost and Found in Johannesburg | Finalists | |
| 2014 | Marci Shore | The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe | The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe | Finalists | |
| 2014 | Rana Mitter | China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival | China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival | Second selection | |
| 2014 | Jaume Cabré | Confiteor | Confessions | Second selection | |
| 2014 | Maxime Raymond Bock | Atavismes | Atavisms | First selection |
| 2014 | Camille de Toledo | Oublier, trahir puis disparaître | | First selection | |
| 2014 | Paul Harding | Enon | Enon | First selection | |
| 2014 | Fanny Howe | Second Childhood | Second Childhood | First selection | |
| 2014 | Wojciech Nowicki | Salki | | First selection | |
| 2014 | Dragan Velikić | Bonavia | | First selection | |
| 2014 | Najem Wali | ملائكة الجنوب | Engel des Südens | First selection | |
| 2015 | Mark Thompson | Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš | Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš | Winner | |
| 2015 | Navid Kermani | Zwischen Koran und Kafka: West-östliche Erkundungen | Between Quran and Kafka: West-Eastern Inquiries | Finalists | |
| 2015 | Najem Wali | بغداد مالبورو، من أجل برادلي مانينك | Bagdad Marlboro: Ein Roman für Bradley Manning | Finalists | |
| 2015 | Jean-Noël Orengo | La Fleur du Capital | | Second selection | |
| 2015 | Ari Shavit | My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel | My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel | Second selection | |
| 2015 | Philipp Ther | Die neue Ordnung auf dem alten Kontinent: Eine Geschichte des neoliberalen Europa | Europe since 1989: A History | First selection | |
| 2015 | Lucian Dan Teodorovici | Matei Brunul | L’histoire de Bruno Matei | First selection |
| 2015 | Frédéric Badré | La grande santé | | First selection |
| 2015 | Valentin Retz | Noir parfait | | First selection |
| 2015 | Hermione Lee | Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life | Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life | | First selection |
| 2015 | Lisa Jarnot | Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography | Robert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A Biography | | First selection |
| 2015 | Gansel Mireille | Traduire comme transhumer | Translation as Transhumance | First selection |
| 2016 | Georgi Gospodinov | Физика на тъгата | Physics of Sorrow | Winner | |
| 2016 | Dževad Karahasan | Što pepeo priča | The Solace of the Night Sky | Finalists | |
| 2016 | Aatish Taseer | The Way Things Were | The Way Things Were | Finalists | |
| 2016 | Julian Barnes | Levels of Life | Levels of Life | Second selection | |
| 2016 | Navid Kermani | Ungläubiges Staunen: Über das Christentum | Wonder Beyond Belief: On Christianity | Second selection |
| 2016 | Ada Limón | Bright Dead Things | Bright Dead Things | First selection |
| 2016 | Alberto Mangel | Curiosity | Curiosity | | First selection |
| 2016 | Iván Sándor | Az éjszaka mélyén, 1914 | Husar in der Hölle, 1914 | First selection |
| 2016 | Andrea Bajani | La vita non è in ordine alfabetico | | First selection |
| 2016 | Fariba Hachtroudi | Le colonel et l’appât 455 | The Man Who Snapped His Fingers | First selection |
| 2016 | Stefan Banz | Louis Michel Eilshemius: Peer of Poet-Painters | Louis Michel Eilshemius: Peer of Poet-Painters | | First selection |
| 2016 | Patrick McGuinness | Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France: From Anarchism to Action française | Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France: From Anarchism to Action française | | First selection |
| 2016 | Víctor del Árbol | Un millón de gotas | A Million Drops | First selection |
| 2016 | Ulrike Guérot | Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss! Eine politische Utopie | Why Europe Should Become a Republic! A Political Utopia | First selection |
| 2017 | Thierry Wolton | Une histoire mondiale du communisme | | Winner | |
| 2017 | Lawrence Liang et al. | Invisible Libraries | Invisible Libraries | Finalists | |
| 2017 | Liao Yiwu | 輪迴的螞蟻 | Die Wiedergeburt der Ameisen | Finalists | |
| 2017 | Paul Kalanithi | When Breath Becomes Air | When Breath Becomes Air | Second selection | |
| 2017 | Wioletta Greg | Guguły | Swallowing Mercury | Second selection | |
| 2017 | Yuriy Vynnychuk | Танґо смерті | Tango of Death | First selection | |
| 2017 | Eugénie Paultre | L’état actuel des choses | | First selection | |
| 2017 | Alvar González-Palacios | Solo ombre: Silhouettes storiche, letterarie e mondane | | First selection | |
| 2017 | Peter Frankopan | The Silk Roads: A New History of the World | The Silk Roads: A New History of the World | First selection | |
| 2018 | Olga Tokarczuk | Księgi Jakubowe | The Books of Jacob | Winner | |
| 2018 | Yuval Noah Harari | ההיסטוריה של המחר | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Finalists | |
| 2018 | Jean Rolin | Le traquet kurde | | Finalists | |
| 2018 | Norman Ohler | Der totale Rausch: Drogen im Dritten Reich | Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich | Second selection | |
| 2018 | Patrick McGuinness | Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory | Other People’s Countries: A Journey into Memory | Second selection | |
| 2018 | Maggie Nelson | The Argonauts | The Argonauts | First selection | |
| 2018 | Virginie Despentes | Vernon Subutex | Vernon Subutex | First selection | |
| 2018 | George Szirtes | Bad Machine | Bad Machine | First selection | |
| 2018 | Preti Taneja | We That Are Young | We That Are Young | First selection | |
| 2019 | Zeruya Shalev | כאב | Pain | Winner | |
| 2019 | Francesca Melandri | Sangue giusto | | Finalists | |
| 2019 | Patrik Ouředník | La fin du monde n’aurait pas eu lieu | The End of the World Might Not Have Taken Place | Finalists | |
| 2019 | Antonio Iturbe | La bibliotecaria de Auschwitz | The Librarian of Auschwitz | Second selection | |
| 2019 | Morgan Sportès | Le ciel ne parle pas | | First selection | |
| 2019 | Long Litt Woon | Stien tilbake til livet: Om sopp og sorg | The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning | First selection | |
| 2020 | Mia Couto with David Brookshaw (trans.) | As Areias do Imperador | Sands of the Emperor | Winner | |
| 2020 | Fran Ross | Oreo | Oreo | Finalists | |
| 2020 | Philippe Sands | East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Finalists | |
| 2020 | Érik Orsenna | Briser en nous la mer gelée | | Second selection | |
| 2020 | Bernard Quiriny | Vies conjugales | | Second selection |
| 2020 | Roland Schimmelpfennig | An einem klaren, eiskalten Januarmorgen zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts | One Clear, Ice-Cold January Morning at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century | First selection | |
| 2020 | Vigdis Hjorth | Arv og miljø | Will and Testament | First selection | |
| 2020 | Wojciech Nowicki | Cieśniny | | First selection | |
| 2020 | Nastassja Martin | Croire aux fauves | In the Eye of the Wild | First selection | |
| 2020 | Yurii Andrukhovych | Коханці юстиції | Die Lieblinge der Justiz | First selection | |
| 2020 | António Damásio | The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures | The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures | First selection | |
| 2020 | Catherine Meurisse | La Légèreté | Lightness | First selection | |
| 2020 | Sergei Lebedev | Предел забвения | Oblivion | First selection | |
| 2020 | Sorj Chalandon | Le jour d’avant | | First selection | |
| 2020 | Viet Thanh Nguyen | The Sympathizer | The Sympathizer | First selection | |
| 2020 | Ruth Zylberman | 209 rue Saint-Maur, Paris X$^e$: Autobiographie d’un immeuble | The Department of Missing Persons | First selection | |
| 2021 | Memorial International (Alena Kozlova, Nikolai Mikhailov, Irina Ostrovskaya, and Irina Scherbakova) with Georgia Thomson (trans.) | Знак не сотрется: Судьбы остарбайтеров в письмах, воспоминаниях и устных рассказах | OST: Letters, Memoirs and Stories from Ostarbeiter in Nazi Germany | Winner | |
| 2021 | Frank Huyler | White Hot Light: Twenty-five Years in Emergency Medicine | White Hot Light: Twenty-five Years in Emergency Medicine | Finalists | |
| 2021 | Eduardo Halfon with Lisa Dillman and Daniel Hahn (trans.) | Duelo | Mourning | Finalists | |
| 2021 | Sophy Roberts | The Lost Pianos of Siberia | The Lost Pianos of Siberia | Second selection | |
| 2021 | Sergei Lebedev with Antonina W. Bouis (trans.) | Дебютант | Untraceable | Second selection | |
| 2021 | Daniel Mendelsohn | Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate | Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate | First selection | |
| 2021 | Mário Cláudio | Tríptico da Salvação | | First selection | |
| 2021 | Ksenia Buksha | Открывается внутрь | | First selection | |
| 2021 | Maria Stepanova | Памяти памяти | In Memory of Memory | First selection | |
| 2021 | Judith Schalansky | Verzeichnis einiger Verluste | An Inventory of Losses | First selection | |
| 2021 | Édouard Louis | Qui a tué mon père | Who Killed My Father | First selection | |
| 2021 | Mathieu Sapin | Gérard: Cinq années dans les pattes de Depardieu | Gérard: Five Years with Depardieu | First selection | |
| 2021 | Lisa Mandel | Une année exemplaire | | First selection | |
| 2021 | Patrice Jean | L’homme surnuméraire | | First selection | |
| 2021 | Claude Hunzinger | Les grands cerfs | | First selection | |
| 2021 | Carmen Boullosa | El libro de Ana | The Book of Anna | First selection | |
| 2022 | Taina Tervonen | Les fossoyeuses | | Winner | |
| 2022 | Eliane Brum with Diane Grosklaus Whitty (trans.) | A vida que ninguém vê | The Collector of Leftover Souls: Dispatches from Brazil | Finalists | |
| 2022 | Untold Narratives | — | My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women | Finalists | |
| 2022 | Perrine Lamy-Quique | Dans leur nuit | | Second selection | |
| 2022 | Laurent Binet | Civilizations | Civilizations | Second selection | |
| 2022 | Nathacha Appanah | Le ciel par-dessus le toit | The Sky Above the Roof | First selection | |
| 2022 | M. John Harrison | The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again | The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again | First selection | |
| 2022 | Georgi Gospodinov | Времеубежище | Time Shelter | First selection | |
| 2022 | Cat Jarman | River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads | River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads | First selection | |
| 2022 | Tanguy Viel | La fille qu’on appelle | The Girl You Call | First selection | |
| 2022 | Stéphanie Coste | Le passeur | | First selection | |
| 2023 | Karina Sainz Borgo | El Tercer País | | Winner | |
| 2023 | Suzanne Simard | Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest | Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest | Finalists |
| 2023 | Hamid Ismailov with Donald Rayfield (trans.) | | Manaschi | Finalists |
| 2023 | Emanuele Trevi | Due vite | | Second selection |
| 2023 | Stefan Hertmans with David McKay (trans.) | De opgang | The Ascent | Second selection | |
| 2023 | Hélène Frappat | Trois femmes disparaissent | | First selection |
| 2023 | Michel Houellebecq | Anéantir | Annihilation | First selection | |
| 2023 | Eva Baltasar | Boulder | Boulder | First selection | |
| 2023 | Anna Badkhen | Bright Unbearable Reality | Bright Unbearable Reality | First selection | |
| 2023 | Agustín Fernández Mallo | El libro de todos los amores | The Book of All Loves | First selection | |
| 2023 | Sara Stridsberg | Kärlekens Antarktis | The Antarctica of Love | First selection | |
| 2023 | Aslak Nore | Havets kirkegård | The Sea Cemetery | First selection | |
| 2023 | Sally Hayden | My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route | My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route | First selection | |
| 2023 | Sigrid Nunez | What Are You Going Through? | What Are You Going Through? | First selection | |
| 2024 | Kate Beaton | Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands | Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands | Winner | |
| 2024 | Mathieu Belazi | Attaquer la terre et le soleil | | Finalists |
| 2024 | Irene Solà | Canto jo i la muntanya balla | When I Sing, Mountains Dance | Finalists |
| 2024 | Iman Mersal | في أثر عنايات الزيات | Traces of Enayat | Second selection |
| 2024 | Fabienne Radi | Une autobiographie de Nina Childress | | Second selection | |
| 2024 | Carlos Fonseca | Austral | Austral | First selection |
| 2024 | Sylvain Tesson | Avec les fées | | First selection | |
| 2024 | Byung-Chul Han | Infokratie: Digitalisierung und die Krise der Demokratie | Infocracy: Digitization and the Crisis of Democracy | First selection | |
| 2024 | Yasmina Reza | James Brown mettait des bigoudis | | First selection | |
| 2024 | Cecile Pin | Wandering Souls | Wandering Souls | First selection | |
| 2024 | Himash Matar | My Friends | My Friends | First selection | |
| 2024 | Fernanda Melchor | Páradais | Paradais | First selection | |
| 2024 | Gaëlle Obiégly | Sans valeur | | First selection | |
| 2024 | Adam Thirlwell | The Future Future | The Future Future | First selection | |