The jury of the German Non-Fiction Prize has selected eight books from 244 titles that have been published by 130 publishers since May 2021. Two shortlisted books have become even more relevant as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine: “The women of Belarus. Of revolution, courage and the urge for freedom” is the name of the book time-journalist Alice Bota, which was published by Berlin-Verlag. Stefan Creuzberger’s “The German-Russian Century. History of a Special Relationship” has just been published by Rowohlt.
The sensational study was also nominated “The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis. History of a Collaboration” (Propyläen) by the historian Stephan Malinowski, who also spent years in Litigation with the noble family found. In addition, Natan Sznaider’s “Vanishing Points of Memory. On the Present of the Holocaust and Colonialism” from the Hanser-Verlag and “Sorting Machines. Reinventing the Frontier in the 21st Century” by Steffen Mau (CH Beck).
The shortlist is completed by Bettina Baltschev’s book “Am Rande der Glück. Über den Strand”, published by Berenberg-Verlag, “Narrative monkeys. Myths, lies, utopias – how stories determine our lives” by Samira El Ouassil and Friedemann Karig (Ullstein) and Ludwig Huber’s “The Rational Animal. A Search for Cognitive-Biological Traces”, published by Suhrkamp.
The conflicts of the present testified to the constitutive role of doubt, said the jury spokeswoman taz-Journalist Tania Martini, in her justification. The nominated titles bring big themes to the readership without spreading ready-made truths. Martini includes Stefan Koldehoff (Deutschlandfunk), Klaus Kowalke (Bookstore Lessing & Company), Meron Mendel (Anne Frank Educational Institution), Jeanne Rubner (Technical University of Munich), Denis Scheck (ARD) and Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin). jury on.
The German Non-Fiction Prize is being awarded for the second time this year, by the Book Culture and Reading Promotion Foundation of the German Book Trade Association. It is endowed with 25,000 euros and 2,500 euros each for all nominees. Last year, FAZ co-editor Jürgen Kaube received an award for his book “Hegel’s World” (Rowohlt Berlin). This year’s award will be decided on May 30th.