Six novels on the shortlist
The jury has met and selected six finalists for the German Book Prize 2012. “Some decisions were made quite quickly; for others, the jury had to wrestle quite long, hard and passionately. We had fun, gained insights and each had to accept our losses in the friendly dispute to determine the season’s top six books”, said jury spokesman Andreas Isenschmid of the NZZ am Sonntag. “The result is a shortlist composed of three titles that, each in their own way, explore German post-war society in a formally enthralling manner, and three others that, no less originally, engage in existential introspection through poetically daring fictional plots.” Over the last five months, the seven jury members reviewed 162 titles that were published between October 2011 and 12 September 2012.
The nominated novels (in alphabetical order):
· Ernst Augustin: Robinsons blaues Haus (C.H.Beck, January 2012)
· Wolfgang Herrndorf: Sand (Rowohlt.Berlin, November 2011)
· Ursula Krechel: Landgericht (Jung und Jung, August 2012)
· Clemens J. Setz: Indigo (Suhrkamp, September 2012)
· Stephan Thome: Fliehkräfte (Suhrkamp, September 2012)
· Ulf Erdmann Ziegler: Nichts Weißes (Suhrkamp, August 2012)
In addition to Andreas Isenschmid, jury members for the German Book Prize 2012 include: Silke Grundmann-Schleicher (Buchhandlung Schleichers, Berlin), Oliver Jungen (independent critic), Dirk Knipphals (die tageszeitung), Stephan Lohr (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), Jutta Person (independent critic) and Christiane Schmidt (freelance editor).
The winner will receive 25,000 euros; the five finalists will each receive 2,500 euros. The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Stiftung will award the German Book Prize 2012 to the best German-language novel of the year. The prize will be awarded on 8 October 2012 at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Kaisersaal of the Frankfurt Römer.
Partners of the German Book Prize include Paschen & Companie, the Frankfurter Sparkasse Foundation, the Frankfurt Book Fair and the city of Frankfurt am Main. The television station Deutsche Welle serves as a media partner for the German Book Prize both at home and abroad. The radio stations Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur will broadcast the ceremony live as part of the “Dokumente und Debatten” programme on LW 153 and 177 kHz, on MW 990 kHz, as a live stream online at http://www.dradio.de/ and on digital satellite radio DAB+. The award ceremony will also be transmitted via live video stream at http://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/.
The German Book Prize is on Facebook. You’ll find information, news and stories about the Book Prize at http://www.facebook.com/DeutscherBuchpreis.
The free German Book Prize app is now available, featuring reading and audio samples of all the nominated longlist titles.
All information about the German Book Prize 2012 and award recipient appearances at the Frankfurt Book Fair can be found at http://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/.
Frankfurt am Main, 12 September 2012
Contact for the media:
Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V.
Claudia Paul, Director, Press and Public Relations
Telephone +49 (0) 69 1306-293, E-mail: paul@boev.de
Johannes Neufeld, Press Officer
Telephone +49 (0) 69 1306-292, E-mail: neufeld@boev.de
