Another success for Jozef Banáš.

“I knew I would receive this award”, Jozef admitted, “because Code 1 had already reached the platinum sales numbers some time ago. Within a year and four months 32,000 copies were sold. Together with the novel Code 9, the two books are about to attain the threshold of 80,000 sold copies, which illustrates the continuous interest in these titles.”

The most successful Slovak authors were awarded yesterday evening and the first winner to step on the stage of the P. O. Hviezdoslav Theatre in Bratislava was Jozef Banáš.

“The truth will always out”, he said after having received the prize. “It is like oil. You can push it under water as much as you want, but it will always rise to the surface – like the truth. Naturally, this fact frightens the truth owners, no matter if they are members of the church or engaged in politics or in media.”

Jozef Banáš is one of the most successful Slovak authors in the last few decades. His books were translated into eight languages and he discussed them with readers in more than 16 countries. Yesterday, his collection of prizes expanded by another trophy awarded for sales rates so high that any Slovak author could envy him. 

For truth seekers

“It was no easy writing”, Jozef Banáš admits. “I worked on the book for almost three years, visited India four times and read many reference books in different languages. I am happy and thank my readers for affirming that in this country, more and more people are seeking the truth, even though we are often considered conspirators or odd fellows at best. I am delighted to be part of a wonderful family of the publishing house Ikar.” 

It might sound like a cliché, writing that the story about the search for evidence of Jesus Christ´s and the Jews´ presence in India, which was introduced to the book market by the famous Czech singer Dan Landa, caused vivid discussions. The novel Kód 1 (Code 1) was awarded the prize Book of the Year 2014 in a readers´ poll conducted by the biweekly Knižná revue (Bookreview) and only two weeks ago, more than 20,000 readers voted this title the Panta Rhei TOP Book of the Year. These facts had already indicated that the novel attracted interest despite the dogmatists´ critical voices. 

The third significant prize was presented to Jozef Banáš yesterday – the Ikar Platinum Book for more than 25,000 sold copies which only confirms that Kód 1 (Code 1) definitely is the top book of current Slovak literature.