Austrian Tonio Schachinger wins the German Book Prize

2023-10-16 17:03:00

The prestigious award for the best German-language novel of the year is worth 25,000 euros. Also nominated were Terézia Mora (“Muna or Half of Life”), Necati Öziri (“Father’s Mark”), Anne Rabe (“The Possibility of Happiness”), Sylvie Schenk (“Maman”) and Ulrike Sterblich (“Drifter”) .

This year, a total of 196 novels from 113 German-language publishers were in the running. Of the participating publishers, 83 came from Germany, 20 from Austria and ten from Switzerland. Six authors from Austria made it onto the longlist: Clemens J. Setz, Raphaela Edelbauer, Thomas Oláh, Teresa Präauer, Kathrin Röggla and Tonio Schachinger.

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