Zbigniew Herbert - Awards and Prizes

Awards and Prizes

According to a note made by the secret police (SB) agent in the Polish Union of Writers (Związek Literatów Polskich) Herbert was a candidate for the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature along with another Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. This information was provided by the Nobel committee secretary who was visiting Poland at that time. A historian from the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej Rafał Sierchuła speculates that the communist government in Poland may have made active attempts to prevent them from receiving the prize, due to their anti-communist opinions.

• Nagroda Pierścienia i tytuł Księcia Słowa (Polish Student Union) (1961)
• Kościelskis Foundation Prize (Genewa) (1963)
• The Alfred Jurzykowski Prize (1965)
• Nikolaus Lenau Prize (1965)
• Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1965)
• Herder Prize (Austria) (1973)
• Petrarca-Preis (Germany) (1979)
• Struga Prize (1981)
• ‘Solidarity’ Prize (1984)
• Nagroda Poetycka im. Sępa Szarzyńskiego (1984)
• International Literary Prize of the Arts Council of Wales (1984)
• The Hungarian Foundation of Prince Gabor Bethlem Prize (1987)
• The Bruno Schulz Prize (American Foundation of Polish – Jewish Studies and American Pen Club) (1988)
• Nagroda Pen Clubu im. komandora K. Szczęsnego (1989)
• Jan Parandowski Polish PEN Club Prize (1990)
• Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society (1991)
• Vilenica Prize (Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Słoweńskich) (1991)
• Nagroda im. Kazimierza Wyki (1993)
• Nagroda Krytyków Niemieckich for the best book of the year (Martwa Natura z Wędzidłem | Still Life with Bridle) (1994)
• The Ingersoll Foundation's T. S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing (1995)
• Nagroda Miasta Münster