Honek, a writer and a poet, is the author of poetry books and a short story collection.

According to the Booker Prize website, “White Nights” is “a highly artistic study of death encapsulated in moving stories set in Poland's Beskid Mountains region.”

It “is a series of thirteen interconnected stories concerning the various tragedies and misfortunes that befall a group of people who all grew up and live(d) in the same village in the Beskid Niski region, in southern Poland,” the website further states.

White Nights is a highly artistic study of death encapsulated in moving stories set in Poland's Beskid Mountains region.

Congratulations to Urszula Honek and translator Kate Webster (@katetranslates) on their #InternationalBooker2024 longlisting.https://t.co/eUOPwouaIA pic.twitter.com/EuevCe2Nhm

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) March 11, 2024

The longlisted books were selected from among 149 titles written in 32 languages. The works “speak of courage and kindness, of the vital importance of community, and of the effects of standing up to tyranny,” Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize stated.

International Booker Prize

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for the best work of fiction from around the world which has been translated into English and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland.

We are delighted to reveal the #InternationalBooker2024 longlist, featuring 13 books ‘that speak of courage and kindness, of the vital importance of community, and of the effects of standing up to tyranny’.

➡️ Discover the full list: https://t.co/JQYmgLwhox pic.twitter.com/zuwolgmxKQ

— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) March 11, 2024

Six shortlisted books will be announced on April 9 and the prize will be awarded to the winner on May 21.

The prize also takes into account the essential work of translators by dividing the GPB 50,000 (EUR 58,600) prize money equally between the author and translator.