Pierre J Mejlak, a Maltese author, is among the 13 Winners of the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature, with his book Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid,  published by Merlin.  The winners were announced this morning at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid is a collection of 10 stories where many of the narrators are travellers, moving from one point of their existence to another, trying to understand a life that they have lived but never fully comprehended, or trying to undo a part of the past that did not go according to plan. 

“I am of course delighted for the award; it’s also an award for contemporary Maltese literature and I’d like to share it with fellow Maltese writers. I hope the award would give me access to a wider audience and a possibility to share my work with more people from different countries,” Mr Mejlak said, in comments to this newspaper.

Pierre J Mejlak has written books for children, adaptations, a novel for adolescents and two collections of short stories. Two-time winner of the Malta Journalism Award, Mr Mejlak worked as a  journalist from 1999 to 2005. He was a BBC correspondent, a regular columnist for In-Nazzjon and produced radio shows for various national radio stations.

The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) is open to countries participating in Creative Europe, the EU funding programme for the cultural and creative sectors. Each year, national juries nominate the winning authors. Publishers of the winning authors are encouraged to apply for EU funding to have their winning books translated into other languages to reach new markets.

Since the Prize was launched in 2009, the EU has provided funding for the translation of books by 56 EUPL winners, into 20 different European languages, covering a  total of 203 translations - on average 3-4 translations per book. The winners also benefit from extra visibility at Europe's major book fairs, including Frankfurt, London, Göteborg  and the Passaporta Festival in Brussels.

In 2011, Immanuel Mifsud also won the award, with his book Fl-Isem tal-Missier (u tal-Iben).

In separate press statements, the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party lauded Mr Mejlak for his achievement, describing it as an honour for our country.