The Bridge Book Award () is an international literary award founded in 2015 with the aim of promoting cultural exchange between Italy and the United States through the translation and dissemination of contemporary fiction and non-fiction from the two countries. The prize was conceived and is curated by Maria Ida Gaeta in collaboration with Maria Gliozzi.
The prize is awarded annually to four literary works: one Italian fiction book, one Italian non-fiction book, one American fiction book, and one American non-fiction book. Winners receive a financial contribution intended for the translation of the work into the language of the other country and take part in meetings and award ceremonies held between Rome and New York City.
Prize structure The Bridge Prize is divided into an Italian section and an American section, both further divided into fiction and non-fiction categories. Each year, twenty finalist titles are selected: five fiction works and five non-fiction works from each country.
Italian works are evaluated by American juries, while American works are evaluated by Italian juries, according to a system described by the organizers as "specular".
Over the years, the prize has been supported, among others, by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, the Federazione Unitaria Italiana Scrittori (FUIS), the American Academy in Rome, the Centro Studi Americani, and the Centro per il libro e la lettura (CEPELL).
Juries The prize includes four juries, two Italian and two American, dedicated respectively to fiction and non-fiction. Jurors include literary critics, translators, scholars, writers, and cultural journalists. According to the regulations, jury members who have a conflict of interest with competing works are temporarily excluded from the relevant edition of the prize.
Winners Edition Year Winning author Winning work Publishing house Category1st 2015 Domenico Starnone Lacci Einaudi Italian fiction Quinto Antonelli Storia intima della Grande Guerra Donzelli Italian non-fiction Laird Hunt Neverhome Little, Brown American fiction Robert Pogue Harrison Juvenescence University of Chicago Press American non-fiction2nd 2016 Nadia Terranova Gli anni al contrario Einaudi Italian fiction Marco Belpoliti Primo Levi di fronte e di profilo Guanda Italian non-fiction Eli Gottlieb Best Boy Liveright American fiction Margo Jefferson Negroland Pantheon Books American non-fiction3rd 2017 Andrea Inglese Parigi è un desiderio Ponte alle Grazie Italian fiction Antonella Tarpino Il paesaggio fragile Einaudi Italian non-fiction Jennifer Haigh Heat & Light HarperCollins American fiction Anna Harwell Celenza Jazz Italian Style Cambridge University Press American non-fiction4th 2018 Luciano Funetta Il grido Chiarelettere Italian fiction Sandra Petrignani La corsara Neri Pozza Italian non-fiction Lesley Nneka Arimah What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky Riverhead Books American fiction Arielle Saiber Measured Words University of Toronto Press American non-fiction5th 2019 Romana Petri Pranzi di famiglia Neri Pozza Italian fiction Massimo Castoldi Insegnare libertà Donzelli Italian non-fiction Maaza Mengiste The Shadow King W. W. Norton & Company American fiction Pamela O. Long Engineering the Eternal City University of Chicago Press American non-fiction6th 2021 Emanuele Trevi Due vite Neri Pozza Italian fiction Elisabetta Rasy Le indiscrete Mondadori Italian non-fiction Danielle Evans The Office of Historical Corrections Riverhead Books American fiction Patricia Gaborik Mussolini's Theatre Cambridge University Press American non-fiction7th 2022 Chiara Valerio Così per sempre Einaudi Italian fiction Walter Siti Contro l'impegno Rizzoli Italian non-fiction Sara Freeman Tides Grove Atlantic American fiction Hendrik W. Dey The Making of Medieval Rome Cambridge University Press American non-fiction8th 2023 Ada D'Adamo Come d’Aria Elliot Italian fiction Paolo Chiesa Marckalada Laterza Italian non-fiction Isabella Hammad Enter Ghost Grove Atlantic American fiction Alison Cornish Believing in Dante Cambridge University Press American non-fiction9th 2024 Carmen Pellegrino Dove la luce La nave di Teseo Italian fiction Carlo Vecce Il sorriso di Caterina Giunti Italian non-fiction Aaron Hamburger Hotel Cuba HarperCollins American fiction Millicent Marcus Italian Film in the Present Tense University of Toronto Press American non-fiction10th 2025 Nicoletta Verna I giorni di vetro Einaudi Italian fiction Giulio Ferroni Natura vicina e lontana La nave di Teseo Italian non-fiction Julia Phillips Bear Penguin Random House American fiction Aaron Robertson The Black Utopians Farrar, Straus and Giroux American non-fiction
References
External links Official website of The Bridge Book Award