People visit the 25th Budapest International Book Festival in Budapest, Hungary, on April 19, 2018. The 25th Budapest International Book Festival was inaugurated on Thursday with the attribution of the Budapest Grand Prize to German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Budapest International Book Festival was inaugurated on Thursday with the attribution of the Budapest Grand Prize to German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann.
The prize was given to him by Melinda Nagyne Varga, head of the cultural department of the Budapest city hall, and Katalin Gal, president of the Association of Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association.
"Daniel Kehlmann's literature is great and worthily popular, his works are characterized by graceful and perceptual philosophies, sensuous resignation and incredibly exact contemporary narratives," Hungarian writer Laszlo Darvasi said, in his speech praising the German-Austrian author. He added that Daniel Kehlmann's stories were film-like, vivid, and fascinatingly conscious.
The writer, a "prodigy" of contemporary German literature, was born in Munich in 1975, and is currently living in Vienna and Berlin. His novels and essays gave him immense popularity since his twenties in Germany, while his novel "Measuring the World" brought him worldwide fame. Sold in 2.3 million copies only in Germany, the masterpiece has been translated into 46 languages, including Hungarian. His critics worldwide praised the sophistication, tremendous material knowledge, intelligence, and unrivaled humor of the oeuvre.
Besides Kehlmann, Serbia was also the honorary guest of the book festival.
"Thanks to the book festival, the Serbian culture and literature can symbolically come back to Budapest, where the first modern Serbian cultural institutions were created in the first half of the 19th century," Vladan Vukosavljevic, Culture and Information Minister of Serbia said.
"In the last 25 years, the book festival maintained the same level of quality, and did not give in to partisanship or personal differences, while its popularity kept on growing," Gergely Prohle general manager of the Petofi Literary Museum said at the opening ceremony.
The 25th Budapest International Book Festival is the host of more than 170 programs with 160 exhibitors coming from 26 countries. The festival will close on April 22.
