Cikada Prize

The Cikada Prize was founded in 2004 following the 100th anniversary celebration in commemoration of the birth of the Swedish Nobel Prize winner, Harry Martinson. The award consists of a diploma, 20.000SEK and a piece of ceramic art designed by the Swedish ceramics artist Gunilla Sundström.

The award was initially (the first five prizes) presented in cooperation with the European Institute of Japanese Studies (EIJS) at the Stockholm School of Economics, the spa hotel Yasuragi, Judiska Teatern (The Jewish Theater), Östasieninstitutet (East Asia Institute) and Nyteboden. From 2013 it is mainly financed by the Swedish Institute.

The name of the prize has been inspired by Martinson's poetry collection "Cikada", which was published in 1953. In this collection is also included the first 29 poems of his famous work Aniara, "The Song about Doris and Mima". The atomic bombs in Japan, followed by the construction of the world's first H-bomb in 1953, had a big impact on Martinson's writing, which is reflected in Aniara. The prize focuses on East Asian poets, writing in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, not only because of Harry Martinson's great interest in East Asian literature, but also because the initiators of the prize believe poetry written in these languages deserves better recognition.

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