Banville Wins 2011 Kafka Prize

Irish novelist John Banville has won the 2011 Franz Kafka Prize, awarded by the Franz Kafka Society in Prague. Banville previously won the Man Booker prize for his novel The Sea which was published in 2005.

Since its inception in 2001, the Kafka Prize has brought recognition to some of the world's brightest stars in literature starting with its first honouree, US writer Philip Roth. Other winners have included Haruki Murakami, Harold Pinter, Yves Bonnefoy, and last year's winner Vaclav Havel. Many believe the Franz Kafka Prize is a sort of augury for the prestigious Nobel prize, but we'll have to wait until October to see if Banville will also be honoured by the Swedish Academy!