Olivia Katrandjian’s “The Ghost Soldier” clearly left a mark on the panel judging this year’s novels, who awarded it second place. Samuel Hamen won first place for “ILE” and third place went to Anja Di Bartolomeo for “Wundholz”. The young adult prize went to Antoine Pohu for “La Quête”.

Katrandjian is a journalist and a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors who moved to Luxembourg with her partner in 2016 to work on her first novel. “The Ghost Soldier” is a historical fiction about two Armenian immigrant friends who are recruited for the Ghost Army, a top secret unit responsible for tactical deception during WWII.

Katrandjian told Delano that through one of her characters, she wanted to draw attention to the war experience of a homosexual soldier. “You just don’t read about the experience of gay men and women,” during this period, the writer explained. “The Ghost Army was this really interesting, wonderful unit where a lot of times to be different was OK.”

You can read a full interview with Katrandjian in the December edition of Delano Magazine.