Invisible Libraries, published by Yoda Press, is one of the three official finalists for the 2017 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. The award is attributed each year to crown a work of world literature. An original feature of the prize is its multicultural nature. It is open to authors from the world over and is intended to contribute to their international recognition.
The prize is awarded for works of fiction or non-fiction, irrespective of the language in which it is written. The winner receives an amount of Swiss Franc 50,000, offering the possibility of greater dedication to her or his art. To make up the jury, the Foundation has called on exceptional writers who are multilingual, selected for their knowledge of various literary genres, but particularly for their cultural openness.
Invisible Libraries captures the sensuous, enigmatic and aesthetic world of books and libraries. Taking a cue from Italo Calvino‘s Invisible Cities, the authors explore bibliophilia, especially in the way it manifests itself via our love affair with libraries.
In Chemin-des-dames, a memorial library may be found encased in a series of catacombs, while in Memorious, the living have themselves become an oral record of literature. The rules of Linearis mandate fidelity to a book till its completion, while Dermestis Lardarius houses books in a state of half-eaten incompleteness. Journey further into this world, and you will find libraries taxonomized by smell, composed of marginalia, etched in ice, and forged in nightmares.
Invisible Libraries has been written by Lawrence Liang, Monica James, Danish Sheikh, Amy Trautwein, and Another.
