Laughter and tears on the last day of the Bachmann competition
Published: Saturday, Jun 29th 2024, 16:10
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The reading competition for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 2024 has come to an emotional end. After Austrian author Johanna Sebauer made the audience and jury laugh with her satire about gherkins in Klagenfurt, Austria, on Saturday, Tamara Stajner from Slovenia burst into tears during the reading of her intimate mother-daughter story and almost had to stop. The jury reacted enthusiastically to Sebauer's story "Das Gurkerl", in which a small vinegar-water accident escalates into a debate about the green pickled vegetable that affects society as a whole. The text, spiced up with Austrian swearwords such as "scheissdrecksgschissenes Hurnsgurkerlwasser", is probably one of the favorites for the Audience Award, which will be presented on Sunday alongside the main prize of 25,000 euros.
In "Luft nach unten", Stajner describes a relationship between daughter and mother that is characterized by psychological violence and historical experiences of violence, but also by deep affection. "You can feel the love in the anger and the anger in the love," said juror Brigitte Schwens-Harrant. In addition to Stajner, Miedya Mahmod also impressed the jury on Saturday. The spoken word talent from the Ruhr region delivered a poetic piece entitled "Es schlechter ausdrücken wollen. Or: Ba, Da", she delivered a poetic text fabric on the topics of otherness and multilingualism. Swiss writer Semi Eschmamp, on the other hand, was unable to win over the jury with his surreal story "Ist Realität selbst da, wo sie nicht hingehört?
A total of 14 authors are in the running for the main prize at the 48th Days of German-Language Literature, which is named after the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973). During the first two days of the competition, Henrik Szanto and Tijan Sila, among others, received high praise from the jury.
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