The 2023 laureates:

Karl Ove Knausgård

Jan Myrdal’s big prize – the Lenin Award 2023 goes to Karl Ove Knausgård. “Like no other contemporary European intellectual, the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgård has, in the great tradition of confessions from Saint Augustine to Rousseau, over the Swedish context of the first-person narrative with Strindberg and Jan Myrdal, against the narrow one- eyed cultural view of the cyclops, uncompromisingly and with the contemplator’s hypnotic presence in life, fixed his gaze on and portrayed his boundless struggle to become, be and remain human in an apocalyptically unequal world.” Click to read the full justification.

Amanda Werne

Jan Myrdal’s small prize – the Robespierre Prize 2023 goes to Amanda Werne. “The distinctive dreamy soundscape that arises when Amanda Werne's voice, guitar playing, and lyrics come together breathes originality and integrity and has made her one of our most important young musical voices. Steadfastly rooted in left wing soil, without being explicitly political in her lyrics, she has, alongside her own artistry, strongly committed herself to equal opportunities for all young people to practice music and has brought other artists along in taking a stand against Swedish NATO membership.”

Read all about the award ceremony in Varberg 11 November here!

The Lenin Award

“A kick in the nuts aimed at the powers that be”. That’s how Lasse Diding describes the purpose of Jan Myrdal's big prize – the Lenin Award that’s awarded every year to an author or artist in Sweden, who operates with social criticism and in a rebellious leftist tradition. With the prize money amounting to 100,000 SEK, the Lenin Award is one of the bigger cultural awards in Sweden – and without a shadow of a doubt the most contentious! Jan Myrdal's small prize – the Robespierre Prize amounts to 25,000 SEK and should reward a young Swedish writer or artist, who operates in a critical spirit.