Literature Reading Contest
Bachmann Prize goes to Ana Marwan
Ana Marwan won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize Photo: Gert Eggenberger/APA/dpa
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The Slovenian author Ana Marwan prevailed against 13 competitors in Klagenfurt. The Bachmann Prize reading competition took place with a live audience for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Slovenian author Ana Marwan has won the renowned Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt.
Marwan received an award at the 46th Days of German-Language Literature in Klagenfurt, Austria, for her laconic, enigmatic text «Change Toad». The writer, who lives near Vienna, prevailed against 13 competitors and received 25,000 euros in prize money.
Born in 1980, Marwan received the highest score from the jury for her story about a woman whose reclusive life of husband, family home and pool is disrupted by an amphibian and pregnancy.
It is a “tender and quiet text that performs an idiosyncratic dance with the language,” said juror Klaus Kastberger.
The prize is dedicated to the writer Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973), who was born in Klagenfurt. Nava Ebrahimi, who was born in Iran, grew up in Germany and lives in Austria, won it last year.
This time, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the multi-day reading competition was held with authors and the public on site instead of just online.
In addition, a new points system was introduced that replaced the jury vote of previous years. As in the previous year, the event was characterized by great diversity in the field of participants.