Zakhar Prilepin proposed creating an alternative to the Nobel Prize.

      01 December 2025 10:16 Culture and Leisure

      Nizhny Novgorod writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin proposed establishing an international literary prize that would not depend on the political dictates of the West. He believes that Russia can implement this project in cooperation with China, India, the countries of Latin America and Africa.

      According to Prilepin, this is not an attempt to copy the Nobel Prize or the "Oscar." He proposes creating a new prestigious award that could take a worthy place in the global cultural system while remaining independent from the Western agenda.

      "Of course, as is not hard to understand, I was not speaking about a 'Russian Nobel' or a 'Russian Oscar.' I was talking about an international award of commensurate stature that will take a central place in the world's cultural hierarchies while being free from Western political diktat. Our comrades in China and India, in Latin America and Africa, have long been waiting for us to take such a step," Prilepin wrote on his Telegram channel in response to a statement by the Russian president's representative for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy.

      The writer's idea was also supported by the assistant to the president of Russia and head of the Union of Writers of Russia, Vladimir Medinsky.

      Earlier it was reported that Zakhar Prilepin had become chairman of the board of the Nizhny Novgorod Union of Writers. In October Prilepin, together with Medinsky and Governor Gleb Nikitin, opened a book fair in Nizhny Novgorod (0+).

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