The crowning of the laureate Davorin Lenk with a wreath took place under the overhang, as the weather was at its worst during the crowning ceremony. Foto: MMC/Roman Šipič
The crowning of the laureate Davorin Lenk with a wreath took place under the overhang, as the weather was at its worst during the crowning ceremony. Foto: MMC/Roman Šipič

This year the nominees for the prestigious award were Evald Flisar's Začarani Odisej (Enchanted Ullisses), Jasmin B. Frelih Na/pol(Halved), Jurij Hudolin Ingrid Rosenfeld, Davorin Lenko Telesa v temi (Bodies in the Dark) and Tone Peršak Usedline (Sediments).
These were the best novels published in 2013, according to the jury members: proffesors Aljozija Zupan Sosič and Urška Perenič, literary critic Aljoša Harlamov and Delo journalist Igor Bratož. After more than a decade the jury had to consider less than one hundred novels.

The ceremony was led by Katja Šulc and Boštjan Narat, and it was interwoven with music by Zvezdana Novakovič on gothic, and Tina Žerdin on classical harp. With the exception of the absent Evald Flisar all the other nominees joined the leaders of the ceremony and said a few words about their novels.
Monetary prize and the lighting of a bonfire
This year's laureate was crowned with a meadow flower crown. He received a cheque for 5,000 euros, and he lighted the traditional bonfire in front of the church at the top of the Rožnik hill, accompanied by the midsummer procession.
The conceptual father of the Kresnik prize for the best Slovenian novel was the writer Vlado Žabot, and it was first presented on June 23, 1991 at Razkrižje ob Murinih mrtvicah. Until 1996 the ceremony was organized at the Josip Jurčič homestead at Muljava, and since then - with two exceptions, when it was organized at the castle of Ljubljana - the prize is given at the Rožnik hill in Ljubljana.
"Life is very rough"
Davorin Lenko (1984) in his debut novel Telesa v temi (Bodies in the Dark), published at Center za slovensko književnost (Centre for Slovenian literature), captured the feelings of a person facing dual impotence – impotence for sexual pleasure, and writer's impotence. The interesting detail is that in the novel the protagonist had been twice nominated for the very prize the author of the novel has actually won. When asked about the relationship about the liveliness, and the rawness of the story, the author emphasized the extraordinary rawness of the life itself.
The novel speaks about a writer who had intended to write a story about a man who had been subjected to castration due to testicular cancer. Several decades later the same fate befell the writer. The sexual impotence forced him to redefine his relationship towards himself, and towards sexuality.