Writer Aleš Šteger has received the Prix Max Jacob Etranger poetry award, one of the most prestigious poetry awards in the French-speaking world. He was honoured for his selected poems Nad nebom pod zemljo (Above the Sky Beneath the Earth or Au-delà du ciel sous la terre), which have been translated into French.

The award has been presented since 1950 and is named after the avant-garde poet and painter Max Jacob. Šteger received the accolade in Paris on 24 March, publisher Beletrina said.

Previous winners include German poet Volker Braun, Moroccan poet Mohammed Bennis, South African poet Breyten Breytenbach, Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinski, and Tunisian-French poet Abdelwahab Meddeb.

Šteger and the translator of his work into French, Guillaume Metayer, received the French Alain Bosquet Award in November last year for the translation of Nad nebom pod zemljo.

The collection was published in 2023 by the French publishing house Gallimard in the series Du monde entier, which features poems by French and world classics. It includes a selection of poetry that Šteger has created over the last ten years.

Šteger, 51, is among the most internationally recognised Slovenian authors. His poetry, fiction and essays have been translated into more than twenty languages and are part of several international anthologies.