Eurovision Book Contest

Feeling that Eurovision fever? As the Song Contest lands in the UK for 2023, join us for a special Hay Festival project to explore and celebrate the most dazzling European literature. Champion old favourites and discover new recommendations as we decide who should take our Eurovision Book Contest crown.

Thousands of you nominated your favourite fiction to represent the 37 countries competing in this year's contest. All genres and languages were welcome, but suggestions had to be published since the song contest began in 1956. And the featured titles are...

Pallati i ëndrrave by Ismail Kadare (The Palace of Dreams translated by Barbara Bray) – ALBANIA

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - AUSTRALIA

Дом, в котором... by Mariam Petrosyan (The Gray House translated by Yuri Machkasov) – ARMENIA

Der Trafikant by Robert Seethaler (The Tobacconist translated by Charlotte Collins) – AUSTRIA

The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya – AZERBAIJAN 

Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes by Jacqueline Harpman (I Who Have Never Known Men translated by Ros Schwartz) – BELGIUM

Uhvati zeca by Lana Bastašić (Catch the Rabbit translated by Lana Bastašić) – CROATIA

Ανατολική Μεσόγειος by Ivi Meleagrou (Eastern Mediterranean translated by Andrew Hendry) – CYPRUS

Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí by Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being translated by Michael Henry) – CZECH REPUBLIC

Kastanjemanden by Søren Sveistrup (The Chestnut Man translated by Caroline Waight) – DENMARK

Pobeda 1946  by Ilmar Taska (Pobeda 1946: A Car Called Victory translated by Christopher Moseley) – ESTONIA

Sommarboken by Tove Jansson (The Summer Book translated by Thomas Teal) – FINLAND

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis translated by Anjali Singh) – FRANCE

Das achte Leben (Für Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili (The Eighth Life (for Brilka) translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin) – GEORGIA

Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer translated by John E Woods) – GERMANY

Το τρίτο στεφάνι by Costas Taktsis (The Third Wedding Wreath translated by John Chioles) – GREECE

DNA by Yrsa Sigurdardottir – ICELAND

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes – IRELAND

Gader Haya by Dorit Rabinyan (All the Rivers translated by Jessica Cohen) – ISRAEL

L'amica geniale by Elena Ferrante (My Brilliant Friend translated by Ann Goldstein) – ITALY

Paisums by Inga Ābele (High Tide translated by Kaija Straumanis) – LATVIA

Vilniaus pokeris by Ričardas Gavelis (Vilnius Poker translated by Elizabeth Novickas) – LITHUANIA

Kulħadd ħalla isem warajh by Clare Azzopardi – MALTA

Caiet de censor by Liliana Corobca (The Censor's Notebook translated by Monica Cure) – MOLDOVA

De avond is ongemak by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (The Discomfort of Evening translated by Michele Hutchison) – THE NETHERLANDS

Perlebryggeriet by Jenny Hval (Paradise Rot translated by Marjam Idriss) – NORWAY

Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych by Olga Tokarczuk (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) – POLAND

Livro do Desassossego by Fernando Pessoa (The Book of Disquiet translated by Margaret Jull Costa) – PORTUGAL

Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu (Solenoid translated by Sean Cotter) – ROMANIA

Celesta by Milena Ercolani – SAN MARINO

Hazarski rečnik by Milorad Pavić (Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel translated by Christina Pribicevic-Zoric) – SERBIA

Jugoslavija, moja dežela by Goran Vojnović (Yugoslavia, My Fatherland translated by Noah Charney) – SLOVENIA

Corazón tan blanco by Javier Marias (A Heart So White translated by Margaret Jull Costa) – SPAIN

Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann by Jonas Jonasson (The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared translated by Rod Bradbury) – SWEDEN

Nachtzug nach Lissabon by Pascal Mercier (Night Train to Lisbon translater by Barbara Harshav) – SWITZERLAND

Інтернат by Serhiy Zhadan (The Orphanage translated by Reilly Costigan Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler) – UKRAINE

Heartstopper, volume one by Alice Oseman – UK

Catch up on a special Hay Festival event that invited audiences to discuss the selection.

Share your thoughts online too using #Bookovision on social media.