Bratislava, March 10th (TASR) – On March 10th, the publishing house Ikar awarded its most successful Slovak writers. In 2016, Ikar published 430 book titles and sold more than one and half million copies, 486,000 of which originated from Slovak authors.

During the festive prize ceremony Ikariáda 2016 the following authors were presented the Golden Book and Platinum Book awards: Táňa Keleová-Vasilková, Jozef Banáš, Jozef Karika, Kristína Farkašová, Vilo Habo, Jozef Pavlovič, Veronika Homolová Tóthová and Ľubomír Feldek.

The Platinum Book for more than 25,000 sold copies was presented to Jozef Banáš for his book Dementi containing his disclaimers about the state of the Slovak Republic, to Táňa Keleová-Vasilková for her book Si ako slnko (Your Are Like the Sun), a story about daughters who tragically lost their fathers, to Kristína Farkašová for her book Som mama (I Am a Mother), in which she shared her experiences as a mother of twin-girls, to Jozef Karika for his mafia thriller V tieni mafie (In Mafia´s Shadow).

The Golden Book award for more than 15,000 sold copies went to Jozef Banáš for his novel Kód 7 Koniec zla (Code 7 The End of Evil) about the search for happiness set in the land of Bhutan, to Jozef Pavlovič for his children´s book Macko Lacko (Teddy Bear Lacko) and to Veronika Homolová Tóthová for her book Mengeleho dievča (Mengel´s Girl) retelling the true story of Viola Stern Fischer, a woman who survived four concentration camps and finally escaped the Nazi terror.

The literary critics awarded The Golden Pen to Ľubomír Feldek for his work Životopis vo veršoch (A Résumé in Vers).

Jozef Banáš belongs to the most read and most translated Slovak authors. He has published 25 books in nine languages in Slovakia and abroad. All of his works released since 2006 have become bestsellers, although he does not avoid serious social, political nor religious topics. He reached his first success with the book Idioti v politike (Idiots in Politics, 2007). He has been awarded numerous prizes for his screenplays and literary works.

“It makes me really happy to see that more and more Slovak readers reach out for books written by Slovak authors. I am pleased that the ranks of Slovak writers are broadening. I follow this philosophy: a book is not written until it is read. It seems that the numbers of good written books are on the rise in Slovakia. Luckily, Slovak literature does not need the same intervention as Slovak music – its sale does not need the state´s support”, the Platinum Prize laureate Jozef Banáš says.

The publishing house Ikar was established in 1990. It has presented the Golden and Platinum Book awards to its most successful writers since 2000. The literary critic´s prize The Golden Pen has been awarded since 2004.