Longlist of the German Book Prize: seven debuts, six Austrians – culture

The jury of the German Book Prize has shown a heart for small publishers and debuts. The longlist she just published includes 20 titles, five of which have been published by small independent publishers and seven of the nominated novels are debuts. The novels of well-known, much-praised authors such as Daniel Kehlmann, Maxim Biller, Marion Poschmann or Thomas Hettche are conspicuously absent from the list. A total of 196 novels were submitted this year, significantly fewer than in previous years.

Not nominated for the first time are the Austrian writer Tonio Schachinger, who was already on the shortlist in 2019 with his debut “Not like her”, Angelika Klüssendorf, who was even shortlisted twice and now for her novel “Risse ” is nominated, Clemens Setz, whose novel “Monde vor der Landing” was also nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair prize, Raphaela Edelbauer and Terézia Mora, who even received the prize exactly ten years ago. A new generation of East German authors is also represented on the list with Charlotte Gneuss and Anne Rabe, who were born in 1986 and 1992 respectively.

The German Book Prize is one of the most important awards in the industry and has been awarded since 2005. The prize is endowed with a total of 37,500 euros: the winner receives 25,000 euros, the other authors on the shortlist each receive 2,500 euros. The book prize is awarded by the Book Culture and Reading Promotion Foundation of the German Book Trade Association. Last year the prize went to Kim de l’Horizon for the novel “Blood Book”.

Stories of tragic seriousness stand alongside capers of the imagination

In addition to the critic Katharina Teutsch, the jury this year also includes the journalist Shila Behjat, the Frankfurt literary scholar Heinz Drügh, the journalist Melanie Mühl, the publicist Matthias Weichelt and the booksellers Lisa Schumacher and Florian Valerius. It was important to the jury, explained its spokeswoman Katharina Teutsch, “to also appreciate the literary humor” that in many of the selected titles “is not only the fuel of the storytelling, but also an expression of a sympathetic and dogmatic world relationship” that the members of the jury “especially impressed at this time”. According to Teutsch, the selection is once again proof that contemporary German-language literature is full of surprises, stories of tragic seriousness stand alongside “caprioles of the imagination”.

In the next step, the jury members select six novels from the titles on the long list for the short list, which will be published on September 19. The award ceremony will finally take place on October 16, 2023 at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Kaisersaal of the Frankfurt Römer. The winner can look forward to numerous readers, the German Book Prize reliably produces bestsellers. Previous winners include Lutz Seiler, Robert Menasse and Julia Franck.

Here is the full longlist: