Features » Literature

30/09/2011

German Book Prize 2011 - the short list

Read English translations of excerpts from the six shortlisted novels

The German Book Prize 2011

The German Book Prize is presented to the best German-language novel just before the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair as an annual award from the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Stiftung – the Foundation of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. The Prize is intended to draw attention beyond national borders to authors writing in German, to reading and to the keynote medium of the book.


The 2011 shortlist:

Jan Brandt: "Against the World" (Gegen die Welt)


Dumont Verlag

About the book
English excerpt



Michael Buselmeier: "Wunsiedel. A Novel about the Theatre" (Wunsiedel)

Verlag das Wunderhorn

About the book
English excerpt



Angelika Klüssendorf: "The Girl" (Das Mädchen)


Kiepenheuer & Witsch Verlag

About the book
English excerpt



Sibylle Lewitscharoff: "Blumenberg"


Suhrkamp Verlag


About the book
English excerpt



Eugen Ruge: "In Times of Fading Light" (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts)

Rowohlt Verlag

About the book
English excerpt




Marlene Streeruwitz: "The Hurtress" (Die Schmerzmacherin)


S. Fischer Verlag

About the book
English excerpt




The judges for the German Book Prize 2011 are:

Maike Albath - journalist for Deutschlandfunk and DeutschlandRadio Kultur

Gregor Dotzauer - literary editor of Der Tagesspiegel

Ulrike Draesner - author whose most recent publications include "Vorliebe", novel (2010), "Schöne Frauen lesen", essays (2007).

Clemens-Peter Haase - head of literature and translation funding at the Goethe Institut

Ina Hartwig - freelance literary critic

Christine Westermann - Westdeutscher Rundfunk presenter

Uwe Wittstock -literary editor of Focus magazine