On Thursday, December 10, the ceremony of presenting the National Literary Prize "Big Book" was held in Moscow.

The winner was determined by a jury consisting of more than a hundred members of the Literary Academy - writers, journalists, scientists, entrepreneurs, public and state leaders.

Among them are Konstantin Ernst, Natalya Timakova, Mikhail Epstein, Vladimir Tolstoy, Sergey Selyanov, Alexander Rodnyansky, Elena Doletskaya, Lev Dodin and many others.

The jury awarded the first place to Alexander Ilichevsky for the novel "Newton's Drawing".

In this book, science goes hand in hand with religion.

In the center of the plot is a physicist setting off on a long journey around the world.

The main goal of the hero is to find the missing father.

At the same time, this path gives development to the character's inner search.

During the ceremony, Ilichevsky was in Jerusalem and connected to the broadcast via video link.

He said that he had previously been shortlisted for the award, but no one believed in his victory.

Nevertheless, the writer himself knew that he would one day take first place and prepared for this.

The prize for second place went to Timur Kibirov, the author of the historical novel The General and His Family.

The book is set in the last years of the USSR.

In his work, the writer recreated the image of a late Soviet man, and also explored topics such as the problem of emigration, generational conflict and the search for a place in life.

The third prize went to Shamil Idiatullin, who in 2017 won the prize with the book The City of Brezhnev.

This time, the jury evaluated the novel "The Former Lenin" published in 2019, which turned out to be extremely relevant in the light of the events of 2020.

The writer said that the heroes of his novel are forced to wear medical masks to protect themselves from a terrible disease, among the symptoms of which is the disappearance of smell.

Also, according to Idiatullin, the work says "how to survive, to look for the line between the present, past and future, and how to value your life, your love and your freedom."

  • Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin at the Big Book national literary award ceremony

  • AGN "Moscow"

  • © Denis Grishkin

The results of the popular vote were also announced.

Readers gave preference to Mikhail Elizarov's novel "Earth", which was previously awarded the National Bestseller Prize.

The book presents a view of the perception of death by a Russian person.

The main character has been interested in the afterlife since childhood.

As an adult, he finds work in the funeral business.

Readers gave the second place to Dina Rubina's trilogy "Napoleon Convoy" about the long love story of a certain Nadezhda and Aristarchus.

The heroes get to know each other in childhood and carry their feelings throughout their lives, despite the separation of 25 years.

The tale of the lovers unfolds against the backdrop of historical events that began in 1812.

In third place is the book by Alexei Makushinsky “Suburb of thought.

Philosophical walk ”.

The writer talks about the places where the philosophers Nikolai Berdyaev and Jacques Maritain lived.

In his narration, Makushinsky from time to time plunges into the past and recalls the lives of such philosophers and artists as Lev Shestov, Auguste Rodin, Rainer Rilke, Albert Camus, Charles Peguy and Marina Tsvetaeva.

The award "For Contribution to Literature" was awarded this year to the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications (Rospechat), and Sergei Lebedenko, the author of the "Books Zhar" telegram channel, won the Litblog nomination.

The Big Book National Literary Prize has been awarded since 2005.

Any prose works are accepted for consideration: novels, stories, short stories, memoirs and documentary works.

Both works originally written in Russian and author's translations of foreign books are put forward.

There are no restrictions on age, citizenship and place of residence for applicants for the award.

The reward for the first place is 3 million rubles, for the second - 1.5 million rubles.

The third-place author receives 1 million rubles.

Over the years, Dmitry Bykov (Boris Pasternak, Ostromov, or the Sorcerer's Apprentice, June), Lyudmila Ulitskaya (Daniel Stein, Translator, Jacob's Ladder), Victor Pelevin ( "T"), Evgeny Vodolazkin ("Laurel", "Aviator"), Zakhar Prilepin ("Abode"), Guzel Yakhina ("Zuleikha opens her eyes", "My children") and others.