Melinda Nadj Abonji wins the German Book Prize 2010

The winner of the German Book Prize 2010 is Melinda Nadj Abonji. She receives the award for her novel “Tauben fliegen auf” (Jung und Jung Verlag). “Melinda Nadj Abonji tells the story, as seen by daughter Ildiko, of a Hungarian family from Vojvodina in Serbia, setting out to make a living in the Swiss catering business. She tells it with her very own and vibrant voice, to begin with, still from the child's view of the world, for whom everything is new and yet who manages to understand things for herself, then from the perspective of the young woman who gradually detects the fault lines within and between these very different worlds, but always with great empathy and humanity. What begins as an apparently carefree Balkan comedy when the family sets off in a rickety old brown Chevrolet for the summer trip back home, is soon overshadowed by the hand of history and the looming Yugoslavian wars. So “Tauben fliegen auf” presents a deeper picture of a contemporary Europe at a time of new departures, but by no means yet able to break with its past.” - This is how the seven judges explain their choice. The panel of judges for the German Book Prize 2010 includes: Jobst-Ulrich Brand (Focus), Thomas Geiger (Literarisches Colloquium Berlin), Ulrich Greiner (Die ZEIT), Burkhard Müller (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Ulrike Sander (Osiandersche Buchhandlung, Tübingen), Cornelia Zetzsche (Bayerischer Rundfunk) and the judges' spokesperson Julia Encke (Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung).

“Despite all the risks, there must be the innovative, risk-laden prize: regardless of whether in the end the judges' decision meets with agreement or criticism, literature will always be the winner. It wins in terms of attention and with that attention, the readers it needs. And enjoyment and a feeling for literary quality grow among those readers, standards are reinforced and innovations are discovered”, said Prof. Gottfried Honnefelder, president of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels – German Publishers & Booksellers Association – and chair of the German Book Prize Academy, in welcoming the around 400 guests in the Kaisersaal at the Römer.

Melinda Nadj Abonji emerged as the winner in the face of competition from: Jan Faktor (Georgs Sorgen um die Vergangenheit oder im Reich des heiligen Hodensack-Bimbams von Prag, Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Thomas Lehr (September. Fata Morgana, Carl Hanser Verlag), Doron Rabinovici (Andernorts, Suhrkamp Verlag), Peter Wawerzinek (Rabenliebe, Galiani Berlin), Judith Zander (Dinge, die wir heute sagten, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag). She receives prize money of 25,000 euros; the other five finalists receive 2,500 euros each. The winner was chosen over the course of several selection stages. The judges viewed a total of 148 titles published between October 2009 and 8 September 2010. From those novels, they put together a longlist of 20 titles and from that, the judges then chose six titles for the shortlist.
The German Book Prize 2010 is presented by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Stiftung as an award for the year's best German-language novel and marks the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Partners supporting the German Book Prize are Paschen & Companie, the Stiftung der Frankfurter Sparkasse, the Frankfurt Book Fair and the City Frankfurt am Main. Deutsche Welle backs the German Book Prize in its media activities at home and abroad.
Extracts from the shortlisted titles are available as free downloads at www.libreka.de. In addition, English translations of extracts are presented on the internet in an English-language shortlist dossier at  www.signandsight.com.

Further information, film clips from the press conference and details of the prizewinner's appearances during the Frankfurt Book Fair can be found at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de.

Frankfurt am Main, 4 October 2010

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Phone +49 (0) 69 1306-292, e-mail: neufeld@boev.de