At Berns, we are proud to see the Berns Prize continue its legacy. In 2025, it is awarded to author Ia Genberg for her exceptional ability to portray Stockholm with distilled precision. Through a series of books, she brings to life scenes set in darkrooms and containers, on whip balconies and by railway tracks—always with a presence that makes the soul of the city tangible.

The Berns Prize is awarded annually by Swedish PEN to a writer, journalist, or photographer who has made a significant contribution to the depiction of Stockholm’s culture, nature, and urban life in its many forms. This year’s laureate, Ia Genberg, captures this legacy with a voice that is both timeless and contemporary.

Citation:

The Berns Prize 2025 is awarded to author Ia Genberg for her ability, across a body of work, to render life in darkrooms and containers, on whip balconies and by railway tracks in Stockholm with distilled precision. Not least in the novel The Details, she unmistakably and with absolute pitch portrays the 1990s in a way that, despite belonging to the past, feels strikingly close.

Ia Genberg says:
— I am an honoured and very surprised recipient. And happy—partly because I’ve been reminded to write about Stockholm again, and partly because I now have a reason to return to Berns, where I haven’t been since the beginning of the century.

Since its establishment in 1963, in connection with the 100th anniversary of Berns Salonger, the prize has been a tribute to the city’s living cultural heritage and to the voices that shape the story of Stockholm. The laureate is selected by the board of Swedish PEN, and the prize currently amounts to SEK 25,000.

Previous recipients include Per Anders Fogelström, Lennart af Petersens, Klas Östergren, Agneta Pleijel, and Jonas Hassen Khemiri—all deeply connected to the story of the city, a legacy that Ia Genberg now carries forward. Read more on the Swedish PEN website.