Biography Gottfried Honnefelder

Gottfried Honnefelder read literary studies and philosophy in Bonn, London and Munich. He took his PhD at Bonn University in 1973 under Benno von Wiese. He joined Suhrkamp Verlag in 1974 where he stayed for 23 years and was managing director of the publishing group as from 1979. 1985 saw publication of the first volumes by the Deutscher Klassiker Verlag of which he was co-founder and has remained a partner to this day. After nine years as sole executive partner in DuMont Buchverlag, in April 2006 he took over Berlin University Press GmbH. He has been a member of the Foundation Council for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade since 1996, vice-president of the Börsenverein since 2001 and its president since January 2006. He is also board chairman of the Literaturhauses Köln e.V.

The members of the Academy

In September 2004, the board of the Börsenverein made its unique appointment of the German Book Prize Academy which is made up of eleven members.

With representatives from the book industry and the arts and co-sponsors of the Prize, the advisory committee’s most important task is the annual selection of the jury. Publisher Dr. Gottfried Honnefelder is president of the German Book Prize Academy.

From left to right: Juergen Boos, Jan Paschen, Dr. Gottfried Honnefelder, Viola Taube, Dr. Dirk Vaihinger, Prof. Dr. Jutta Limbach, Hubert Winkels, Wilfried Weber, Dr. Joachim Unseld. Not shown: Bernd Neumann.