Bucheon City has announced that Where You Come From (original German title: Herkunft, translated by Kwon Sang-hee, published by Eunhaengnamu in 2020), authored by acclaimed writer Saša Stanišić, has been selected as the winner of the 6th Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award. 

The Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award is a prestigious international literary prize established to discover and celebrate outstanding literary works that explore the theme of "diaspora"—the profound experiences of individuals who leave their homelands and settle in foreign lands. Following its designation as East Asia’s first UNESCO City of Literature in 2017, Bucheon established this literary award in 2020 to build upon the city’s distinctive historical and cultural characteristics. 

This year’s laureate, Saša Stanišić, was born in Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1978. At the age of fourteen, he fled the devastating civil war in the former Yugoslavia alongside his family, seeking refuge in Germany. Settling in Heidelberg, he went on to build a remarkable literary career writing in German, consistently exploring complex themes of migration, identity, and memory. His profound contributions to contemporary European literature were previously recognized when he was awarded the prestigious German Book Prize in 2019. 

The winning novel, Where You Come From, is a deeply moving, autobiographical work that untangles the multifaceted meanings of origin, identity, and personal history. The narrative brilliantly intertwines the haunting memories of a vanished nation—Yugoslavia—with the poignant reality of his grandmother’s advancing dementia. By blending autofiction, sharp wit, and structural experimentation, the novel questions what it means to belong to a culture, cross linguistic barriers, and construct a home between shattered pasts and newly adopted environments. Following rigorous evaluations by the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award committee, the novel emerged as this year's definitive masterpiece. 

Reflecting its growing international stature, Stanišić’s work has garnered global critical acclaim, including a nomination for the prestigious Dublin Literary Award, cementing its place as a vital text in contemporary migration literature. The English translation, brilliantly rendered by Damion Searls, has similarly been praised for capturing the author's lyrical yet incisive voice regarding the complexities of displacement and belonging. 

The official award ceremony for the 6th Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award is scheduled for November 5 at the Small Performance Hall of the Bucheon Arts Center. During the ceremony, a grand prize of 50 million Korean won will be presented to author Saša Stanišić, alongside a prize of 10 million Korean won to translator Kwon Sang-hee. The event will feature commemorative plaques, celebratory artistic performances, and an exclusive interactive session allowing local readers to engage directly with the author. 

Ahead of the main ceremony, Bucheon City will host a newly introduced public program titled the "Diaspora Literature Award Reading Guide" at the City Hall Cube on September 28. The chairperson of the literary award’s judging committee will participate as a keynote speaker, inviting local citizens to deeply examine the core concepts of diaspora, literature, and human migration. 

Park Hye-kyung, Head of Bucheon City's Cultural Policy Division, remarked, "This year's winning selection profoundly captures the fundamental motifs of diaspora literature—migration, identity, and memory. We remain committed to continuously developing the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award into a world-class international literary platform that shares diverse human experiences and cultural values across the globe."

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