Welcome

The HRBA pursues the aim of providing literary works that focus on human rights topics and their authors with an international stage, recognition, and media interest. The HRBA wants to pay particular attention to authors who have been persecuted – through physical violence, legal harassment, bans, slander, and even forced exile – as a consequence of their literary works.

Established in Vienna, Austria, in 2010, HRBA has been awarded exclusively to books published in English. For the first two years, the award was presented during the “Buchliebling Gala” event at the Vienna City Hall. Later, Prof. Johann Fritz, the former Director of the International Press Institute (IPI), coordinated the HRBA together with IPI.