2023-08-22 16:17:58
20 out of almost 200: the jury has made its decision and announced the longlist for the German Book Prize. One theme appears in several novels at the same time.
Frankfurt/Main.
They play in a Jewish town in Siberia or in the former GDR, they tell the story from the point of view of a squid or from the tribune of the NSU trial. 20 novels made it onto the eagerly awaited longlist for the German Book Prize. “This year, our selection is once again proof that contemporary German-language literature is full of surprises,” explained jury spokeswoman Katharina Teutsch on Tuesday. “Stories of tragic seriousness stand alongside capers of the imagination.”
Eleven male and nine female authors are with their works in the preselectionl represent. One of the most prominent names is Terézia Mora, who won the book prize in 2013 and is present this time with her novel “Muna oder Die Halb des Lebens”, which tells of a toxic love relationship. Or Georg Büchner Prize winner Clemens J. Setz, who deals with an almost forgotten hollow world theorist in “Monde vor der Landing”.
The Kaschnitz Prize winner Angelika Klüssendorf is nominated with the book “Risse”, which is about a child’s life in the GDR in the 1960s and 1970s. And Kathrin Röggla’s “Ongoing Proceedings” is a novel about the NSU trial that also depicts a moral image of German society and the judiciary.
Character books
When looking at the list, however, it is also noticeable that newcomers are confidently lining up alongside the established names: Luca Kieser, for example, deals with a monstrous octopus in “Because there was something in the water”, whose arms and tentacles begin to tell a story. And Charlotte Gneuss’ “Gittersee” takes place in the Dresden suburb of the same name in the 1970s and has already been awarded the Jürgen Ponto Prize 2023.
It is a very spirited selection of books with a strong character, says Teutsch, looking at the longlist. The jury also wanted to appreciate the literary humor that runs through many works. This is “not only fuel for storytelling, but also an expression of a sympathetic and undogmatic world relationship that particularly impressed us at this time.”
The critic also emphasizes that the seven-member jury went about its work completely free of political or moral claims. Nevertheless, it turned out in the end that many works also deal with migration. Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus’ debut (“Birobidzhan”) is about a little Jewish town that was founded in Siberia in the 1930s. Sherko Fatah deals with migration and its consequences in “The Big Wish” and Elena Fischer (“Paradise Garden”) with immigration from Hungary. Necati Öziri depicts German-Turkish realities of different generations in his debut “Vatermal”. And Anne Rabe tells in “The Possibility of Happiness” about the migration from the disappeared GDR to the West.
“We didn’t have it on the agenda that the selection should be as diverse as possible or that as many women as possible should be represented,” explains Teutsch. “But in the end, a picture emerged that represents the current living conditions in Germany and the questions many people have about their own origins.”
A total of 196 novels from 113 German-language publishers were in the running this year. In the coming weeks, the shortlist with the six best novels will be drawn from the longlist of 20 titles. This should be published on September 19th. The winner will be announced at the award ceremony on October 16, at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The German Book Prize is one of the most important awards in the industry and has been awarded since 2005. The prize is endowed with a total of 37,500 euros: the winner receives 25,000 euros, the other authors on the shortlist each receive 2,500 euros. Last year, Kim de l’Horizon received an award for the novel “Blood Book”.
Several of the currently nominated novels have not yet been published. A paperback with text excerpts from all longlisted titles is available free of charge in many bookstores from this week.
Customers are already interested in the longlist and in the reading samples, says Julie Sawallisch from the Berlin bookstore Stadtlichter. Experience has shown that the price of the book also brings with it sales success. And: “Even a nomination is a great opportunity for new authors and for smaller publishers,” explains the bookseller. According to the Börsenverein, in addition to the seven debut works, two publishers have been nominated for the first time – Voland & Quist and Kanon Verlag Berlin. (dpa)
#Longlist #German #Book #Prize #newcomers #free #press