Ostana Prize: ‘Writing in indigenous language’

The Ostana Prize: ‘Writing in indigenous language’ brings authors from different countries together every year in Ostana, an Occitan village in Monviso, for a festival of linguistic diversity. This XV edition will take place from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 June, in the multifunctional centre of the Miribrart village.

Once again, the Ostana Prize offers its public and the award-winning artists an experience of immersion with languages from all over the world with the opportunity to communicate with each other: from the Niger desert to the mountains of Asturias, from the Valle d’Aosta to the Basque Country, from the land of the Oc language to the island of Corsica. The motto of this edition pays homage to Frédéric Mistral, Nobel Prize for Literature 1904: ‘Qui ten la lenga, ten la clau’, or ‘The one who guards the language, guards the key’.

The mission of the Ostana Prize, for 15 years, has been to offer a chance for people, histories and cultures to meet, and to promote language rights in line with the initiatives by the United Nations within the framework of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032. In its history, the Prize has given voice to 45 languages from all 5 continents, consolidating a truly international network of authors, enthusiasts and supporters of linguistic diversity, and making it a reference event worldwide.

The Ostana Prize celebrates artistic production in the mother tongue in any form, from poetry to prose, from music to cinema, from art to translation. The Award Ceremony will be held on Sunday 25 June starting at 14:00 and during the award ceremony, various artistic performances will take place.

The 2023 awardees are:

• Special Prize: HAWAD, Tamajaght language (tuareg, Niger)
• International Prize: Bernardo ATXAGA, Euskera language (Spain)
• Historical Linguistic Minorities in Italy Prize: Liliana BERTOLO BONIFACE, Francoprovençal language (Italy)
• Youth Prize: Blanca I. FERNÁNDEZ QUINTANA, Asturian language (Spain)
• Translation Prize: Monica LONGOBARDI, Occitan language (Italy)
• Occitan Language Prize: Sarah LAURENT-ZURAWCZAK, Occitan language (France)
• Musical Composition Prize: Fiona MACKENZIE, Gaelic language (Scotland)
• Cinema Prize: Julie PERREARD, Corsican language (France)

Check the complete programme here and visit the Ostana Prize website for more information.