Award for a Book on Folklore Studies

The book The Oxford Handbook of Slavic and East European Folklore, edited by Margaret H. Beissinger, has received the 2026 PROSE Award in the Literature category from the Association of American Publishers.

The handbook, which was published online in 2023 and in print in 2025, includes the chapter “Songs, Rites, and Identity in the Religious Folklore of Latvia and Lithuania.” The chapter is authored by Michael Strmiska, Gatis Ozoliņš, Odeta Rudling, and Digne Ūdre-Lielbārde.

The chapter examines traditions of religious folklore in Latvia and Lithuania, focusing on the interaction between songs, rituals, and identity in the Baltic cultural space.