Georgi Gospodinov and translator Hanna Sandborgh win Stockholm literature prize for The Gardener and Death

Gospodinov's novel depicts the period before, during and after his father's death. The jury describes the book as "as beautiful as it is sad" - his father's life is interwoven with cancer and images of a beloved garden.

"I was truly moved by the news of the prize. 'The Gardener and Death' is my most personal book. My father belonged to a generation of people who never travelled, and now his story has reached all the way to Stockholm," Georgi Gospodinov says in a press release.

The prize money is 200,000 kronor. The prize winners will attend the International Writers' Stage in Stockholm on 19 January.