The Literary Awards: ”Literature.gr Phrase of the Year Prize” were established in December 2015 by the online literary magazine Literature.gr
Literature.gr is aiming at promoting literature as well as the development and promotion of Greek letters through the work of contemporary Greek writers and the acquaintance of the Greek writers with the modern thought of foreign writers. As literature has always held a prominent place in the field of culture and from every literary book there is, sometimes, a phrase that can spontaneously stand and impress the reader and mobilizes new spiritual forces, the purpose of establishing this Award is the promotion of aphoristic sayings, of those writers who still autonomously signal this mobilization even after the end of the reading process.
The essence of Literature.gr Prize, is the basic and essential purpose of writing, the communication with the reader through reading. Each characteristic phrase, unlocks a work, giving the reader the opportunity to take a peek into the book, to see the image of a small universe, which reflects the uniqueness of each creator, their style. Literature.gr attempts to find, through a deeper reading, the inspiration of the author, which is something incomprehensible and magical that comes from big or small causes.
The Prizes are awarded to the writers whose autonomous phrase reflects this very spirit and promotes a quality reading experience. The Award aspires to be annual. Supervised and granted by the literary magazine Literature.gr.
2020 Ceremony
Τhanos Kappas & Don DeLillo
2019 Ceremony
Mihalis Makropoulos & David Grossman
2018 Ceremony
Nikos Chryssos & László Krasznahorkai
2017 Ceremony
Ersi Sotiropoulos & Greg Jackson
2016 Ceremony
Michalis Modinos & Anthony Marra
2015 Ceremony
Andreas Mitsou & Philip Kerr
“There are metaphors more real than the people who walk in the street. There are images tucked away in books that live more vividly than many men and women. There are phrases from literary works that have a positively human personality. There are passages from my own writing that chill me with fright, so distinctly do I feel them as people, so sharply outlined do they appear against the walls of my room, at night, in shadows… I’ve written sentences whose sound, read out loud or silently (impossible to hide their sound), can only be of something that acquired absolute exteriority and a full-fledged soul.” ― Pessoa, Fernando, The Book of Disquiet