Six finalists chosen for the German Book Prize
Published: Tuesday, Sep 17th 2024, 12:10
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It's about dealing with recent history, war, violence and love: six novels have made it onto this year's shortlist for the German Book Prize.
The nominees are Martina Hefter, Maren Kames, Clemens Meyer, Ronya Othmann, Markus Thielemann and Iris Wolff.
In Frankfurt, the jury published the eagerly awaited shortlist of four female and two male authors who can now hope to win the German Book Prize. The winner will not be announced until October 14.
The award is traditionally presented the day before the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The longlist was published in August and still contained 20 author names.
"For the shortlist of the German Book Prize 2024, we have selected novels that explore the light and darkness of our recent history in new ways, that also overcome boundaries in terms of narrative and are great literary adventures," said jury spokesperson Natascha Freundel. Each book is unique in form and content.
No more debut novels
First novels are no longer represented on the shortlist; three of the 20 novels on the longlist were still represented. Some of the nominated authors have already won multiple awards.
One of the best-known names is Clemens Meyer, who has already been shortlisted for the German Book Prize with his novel "Im Stein". He has already won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize with his short story collection "Die Nacht, die Lichter".
His work "The Projectors" is about the wars in the 1990s in what was then Yugoslavia, but also about the Karl May films that were once shot there in the 1960s in what is now Croatia. ""The Projectors" is a novel that challenges its readers, that deliberately overtaxes them, that overwhelms them with its wealth of material," writes the jury about the book.
Iris Wolff embeds her novel "Lichtungen" in European history at the end of the 20th century, when the Iron Curtain between East and West fell. Like the author, the two main characters come from the Transylvania region of Romania and experience the upheaval in very different ways.
"This coming-of-age story and love story about cancer is told with great sensitivity and sophistication, the fractures in the two lives are worked out and the characters are anchored in very concrete spaces and landscapes," writes the jury.
In "Seventy-Four", Ronya Othmann addresses the genocide of the Yazidis and follows the traces of the crime committed by the terrorist organization Islamic State. "She visits the sites of the massacres, the refugee camps, the memorials. She gives a voice to those who were only just able to escape the murderous rage of the IS," says the jury.
Othmann mixes genres and narrative forms such as travel reportage, court records, historical digressions and autobiographical material.
Markus Thielemann's second novel "Von Norden rollt ein Donner" is about an almost forgotten concentration camp, among other things. The protagonist of the story is 19-year-old Jannes, who drives a flock of sheep through the Lüneburg Heath in the tradition of his father and grandfather.
"Markus Thielemann has written an atmospherically dense and linguistically powerful anti-homeland novel in which the archaic and the modern collide and the ghosts of the past haunt the deceptive idyll of the Lüneburg Heath," explains the jury.
Rabbit as a character in a novel
"Hasenprosa" by Maren Kames is a fantastic and bizarre literary journey. It is about a rabbit companion who, according to the jury, is a mixture of anarchist and petty accountant.
"This stubborn journey nests itself in the reader's mind and leaves one exhilarated, ready for everyday life and delighted. It grabs our laughing nerves with both paws - and light-footedly hops away from any dull realism."
In "Hey good morning, how are you?", Martina Hefter tells the story of performance artist Juni, who is somehow making her way through life. An exchange about real life and real love develops between her and a so-called lovescammer, who is actually only after her money, via social networks.
"Martina Hefter tells the story of Juno's inner turmoil in an impressive way: close to everyday life and reflective, life-smart and poetic, tender and unsentimental."
20th award ceremony
The coveted award for German-language literature is being presented for the 20th time this year. The seven-member jury reviewed a total of 197 novels from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The works have been published since October 2023 or are yet to be published.
The book prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels. It is endowed with a total of 37,500 euros: The winner receives 25,000 euros, the other shortlisted authors 2,500 euros each. In 2023, the Austrian author Tonio Schachinger was honored for his novel "Echtzeitalter".
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