Death and the Gardener - Best Foreign Book According to Spanish Critics

Death and the Gardener by Georgi Gospodinov has won the Spanish Critics’ Award for Best Foreign Book. The novel was honored at the 70th anniversary edition of one of Spain’s most important literary awards. It is the only prize granted to works in Spain’s four official languages by a jury composed of 21 independent literary critics.

The award places the Bulgarian writer among previous laureates such as Svetlana Alexievich, Olga Tokarczuk, Annie Ernaux, Han Kang, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Mircea Cartarescu, and others.

This latest major recognition for Georgi Gospodinov comes just a month after Death and the Gardener (translated by Maria Vutova) won the Independent Bookshops’ Award for Book of the Year in Spain.

The Spanish publisher of the novel, Impedimenta, writes on its page:

"Today we celebrate news that fills us with joy: Georgi Gospodinov has been awarded the Critics’ Prize for 2025 for Death and the Gardener. This prize recognizes one of the most distinctive, perceptive, and indispensable writers of our time. His literature - delicate and deeply humane - explores memory, the passage of time, and the fragility of existence. In his pages, the intimate becomes universal, nostalgia takes on new forms, and everyday life reveals unexpected depth".

In the coming days, the ninth edition of the novel will be released in Spain. Since its publication less than a year ago, Death and the Gardener has remained among the bestselling books.