Six Austrians are in the running for the German Book Prize

2023-08-22 18:05:00

A strong year from an Austrian point of view: six Austrians – twice as many as in the previous year – are on the long list for the German Book Prize. Like last year, there is an Upper Austrian entry this year: After Reinhard Kaiser-Mühlecker (“Poacher”), Teresa Präauer, who was born in Linz, was nominated for “Cooking in the Wrong Century”. The novel about a woman and her friends invited to dinner develops into a subtle milieu study of the Bobo class.

Two publishers from Austria

The other Austrians: Büchner Prize winner Clemens J. Setz is in the running with the biography of the hollow world theorist Peter Bender, “Moons before the Landing”, Kathrin Röggla with “Ongoing proceedings” on the NSU trial as a moral image of society.

Clemens J. Setz
Image: APA/Eggenberger

Six Austrians are in the running for the German Book Prize — Kathrin Röggla
Image: Karsten Thielker

Raphaela Edelbauer was nominated for her “Incommensurables” about Vienna on the eve of the First World War, the costume designer Thomas Oláh with his debut “Doppler” and Tonio Schachinger for his school novel “Echtzeitalter”.

Also among the 20 nominees are Terézia Mora (“Muna or Half of Life”), who won the award in 2013, Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus (“Birobidzhan), Sherko Fatah (“The Great Desire”), Elena Fischer (“Paradise Garden “), Charlotte Gneuss (“Gittersee”), Angelika Klüssedorf (“Cracks”), Angelika Overath (“Blurs of Love”), Necati Öziri (“Father Mark”), Anne Rabe (“The Possibility of Happiness”), Sylvie Schenk (“Maman”), Tim Staffel (“Südstern”) and Ulrike Sterblich (“Drifter”).

Novels from Austrian publishers were nominated twice: “A dog came into the kitchen” by Sepp Mall was published by Leykam Graz, “Because there was something in the water” by the German Luca Kieser, who lives in Vienna, by Picus in Vienna. There is great joy there. “We were convinced of this novel right from the start and produced an optimistic initial print run of 5,000 copies,” says publisher Alexander Potyka. How could the nomination affect you now? “We suspect that we will sell 2,000 to 3,000 more.” Media interest will also increase. One effect was already noticeable yesterday: “International publishers have inquired about the rights.”

The price

The German Book Prize has been awarded since 2005 by the Book Culture and Reading Promotion Foundation of the German Book Trade Association. The winner receives 25,000 euros. The shortlist, consisting of six novels, will be published on September 19, and the prize will be awarded at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 16. This year 196 novels were submitted, 20 of them from Austrian publishers.