For the Zweitbuch bookstore in Oberhausen, September 2020 was something like winning the literature lottery: Anne Weber appeared for the blind date reading, the author read to the audience in the Ruhrpottstadt from her fascinating long poem “Annette, ein Heldinnenepos”, which had just been nominated for the German Book Prize longlist. What neither the residents of Oberhausen nor Ms. Weber herself could have known at the time: They were listening to the later winner of this most important award for German-language novels. Will Monika Herzog-Lamers have a similar luck? The branch manager of Bücher Herzog in Wasserburg also has a blind date. From the lucky bag of 20 names on the famous long list, one was drawn and on September 16th he or she will open a book in the cone of the reading lamp in the traditional bookshop in the middle of the historic center of the Inn town the book award jury appears worthy of the award.
A total of 354 bookstores across Germany have applied for the ten blind date readings with the long-listed writers, who will be raffled off by the stock exchange association. Only in the evening itself should the audience find out who is the guest. That increases the tension. Monika Herzog-Lamers, she happily reveals on the phone, will of course know that beforehand. “After all, I can’t order books from all 20 nominees in large quantities.” However, their loyal customers will probably not miss it if suddenly more copies and titles than usual appear in the shop window.
Monika Herzog-Lamers, known as “Mokka”, has been working for Bucher Herzog for 40 years, one of those bookstores that form the backbone of the entire industry, which have proven, especially during the pandemic months, how irreplaceable they are as local suppliers for mind and soul . Direct encounters with authors were sorely missed during this time, and the writers themselves lost important sources of income with the readings.
Whoever steps through the door at Bucher Herzog on September 16th at 8 p.m., everyone will be a winner in the end. Monika Herzog-Lamers sees it that way too. “And because the rest of the year will probably be difficult for many, we will not charge more than nine euros for the reading, we want to give something back to our customers.” For the cause of literature, something like that is possibly nicer than any prize.