Ceremony October 14th 2024
Ceremony October 14th 2024
The German Book Prize is presented to the best German-language novel just before the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair as an annual award from the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels – the Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. The Prize is intended to draw attention beyond national borders to authors writing in German, to reading and to the keynote medium of the book. Publishing companies can apply for the award by direct nomination of their titles. Unusually, titles still in production when applications are first invited can also be included in the selection process. Furthermore, the German Book Prize represents the guarantee of independent and competent prize judgement: the seven jurors will personally assess all the books that are submitted and that meet the criteria for consideration.
To ensure the greatest possible independence and transparency for the choice of the award-winner, the Börsenverein board has appointed the German Book Prize Academy with representatives of the book and media industry. Their most important task is the selection every year of the jury members who will choose the winner over the course of several selection stages. Organised by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the German Book Prize is also backed by partners from outside the industry. The main partner of the Book Prize is the Deutsche Bank Foundation. A further partner is the city of Frankfurt am Main.
Announcement of the judges
10 a.m.
Announcement of the Longlist
10 a.m.
Announcement of the Shortlist
6 p.m.
Award ceremony
In september 2004, the board of the Börsenverein made its unique appointment of the German Book Prize Academy. Made up of representatives from the book industry and the arts as well as partners of the Prize, the advisory committee’s most important task is the annual selection of the jury. Publisher Karin Schmidt-Friderichs is president of the German Book Prize Academy.
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Annerose Beurich is the owner of the Hamburg bookshop stories! She trained as a bookseller and worked at Carolus Herder in Frankfurt, among other bookshops. From 1996 to 2002, she worked in wholesale sales for Libri, ultimately in sales and marketing. In 2008 she opened her bookshop, stories!
After training as a publishing manager, Juergen Boos studied business management in Mannheim. He worked for several years as a sales director with Droemersche Verlagsanstalt, Literarischer Verlag, Carl Hanser Verlag and at Springer Verlag in Berlin where he went on to become director of international sales. In 1997, he moved to Verlag Wiley-VCH as executive director of marketing/sales/distribution. He has been president of the Frankfurt Book Fair since April 2005.
Sabine Dörlemann, an avid reader, publisher and traveller, was born in Dülmen/Westphalia. She studied English language and literature, American language and literature, political science and philosophy. After holding positions at Carlsen Verlag and Haffmans Verlag, she worked as an editor for Ammann Verlag for many years. In 2003 Sabine Dörlemann founded her own publishing house: DÖRLEMANN. In 2005 she received the Max Geilinger Foundation Prize for her publishing work and her translations of Anglo-Saxon literature, in 2007 an award of recognition from the UBS-Jubiläumsstiftung (UBS Jubilee Foundation) “for her steadfast and dedicated work as a publisher”, in 2008 the Übersetzerbarke (Translators’ Barque) of the VdÜ (German Literary Translators’ Association) and in 2015 the ProLitteris Prize for her publishing house. Since mid-2017 Sabine Dörlemann has also been vice president of the Schweizer Buchhändler- und Verleger-Verband (Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association). She lives in Zurich.
Jürgen Fitschen (born 1948) is Senior Advisor to Deutsche Bank and served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors from 1 June 2012 to 19 May 2016.
After training as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant, he studied economics at the University of Hamburg. In 1975, he began his career at Citibank in Hamburg. After moving to Deutsche Bank in 1987, he held various management positions in Thailand, Japan, Singapore and the UK before being appointed a member of the group’s Management Board in 2001. Jürgen Fitschen left the Management Board in 2002 and became a member of the newly established Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank until its dissolution in 2015. In 2004, he became head of regional management worldwide and was appointed CEO of Deutsche Bank for Germany. In 2009, while retaining these two responsibilities, he was reappointed to the Management Board of Deutsche Bank AG, whose Co-Chairman he became on 1 June 2012. Jürgen Fitschen is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vonovia AG and has a seat on the Supervisory Board of Syntellix AG. He is also Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank Foundation.
Dr Kristina Hasenpflug has been managing director and special representative of the Deutsche Bank Foundation in Frankfurt am Main since July 2016. After studying literary studies, history and politics, she earned a doctorate with her thesis on the poetry of Clemens Brentano. Following several years as a research assistant for the Freie Deutsche Hochstift – Frankfurter Goethemuseum (Goethe Museum in Frankfurt), in 2000, she became director of the “Art and Culture” and “Education” departments of the Wüstenrot Foundation, where she was responsible for, among other things, the focal points “Literature”, with the creation of a series for the preservation of literary heritage, “Documentary Photography” and “Architecture”, with a particular focus on reaching children and youths through broad educational programmes. She is active as a volunteer for, among others, the board of the Gesellschaft der Freunde und Förderer der Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (Society of Friends and Sponsors of the University of Music and Performing Arts) in Frankfurt am Main.
Hauke Hückstädt lives with his family in Frankfurt am Main, where he has been director of the Literaturhaus Frankfurt since 2010. He also works as an editor, critic and lecturer and advises authors on their public relations practice. In addition to poems in journals and anthologies, he has published the poetry collection “Neue Heiterkeit” (“New Cheer”) with zu Klampen and a German translation of David Constantine’s “Something for the Ghosts” (“Etwas für die Geister”) with Wallstein. In 2017, S. Fischer published “95 Anschläge - Thesen für die Zukunft” (“95 Attempts – Theses for the Future”), which he co-edited with Friederike von Bünau. The second volume of “LiES! Literatur in Einfacher Sprache” (“LiES! Literature in Simple Language”), a project he initiated, will be published in spring 2023.
Carola Lentz, born in Braunschweig in 1954, studied sociology, political science, German language and literature, and education at the Georg August University of Göttingen and at Freie Universität Berlin. She earned her doctorate from the University of Hanover in 1987 and qualified as a professor at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1996. From 1996 to 2002, she was professor of anthropology at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, and, from 2002 to 2019, at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, where she has been a senior research professor since 2019. She replaced Prof Dr Klaus-Dieter Lehmann as president of the Goethe Institut in 2021.
Rudolf Müller, born in Heilbronn in 1951, studied German language and literature and theatre studies in Cologne, where he subsequently worked at the Walther König bookstore. In 1989, he founded his own bookstore in Düsseldorf, which opened on 3 June, the anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s birth and Franz Kafka’s death. He is a member of, among others, the jury of the Düsseldorf Literature Prize, the expert group New Spanish Books and, since 1993, the literary advisory committee of the state capital Düsseldorf. In 2006, he was a founding member of the Heine Haus (Heine House) Düsseldorf.
Jutta Person, born in 1971, is a literary critic. She writes for Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit and other outlets and is in charge of the books section at Philosophie Magazin. In 2012, she was a member of the jury for the German Book Prize. As part of Matthes & Seitz Verlag’s “Naturkunden” (natural history) series, she published the animal portraits “Esel” (donkey) and “Korallen” (corals). In 2023, she received the Alfred Kerr Prize and the Johann Heinrich Merck Prize. She lives in Berlin.
Andreas Rötzer, born in Munich in 1971, studied philosophy, among other subjects, in Passau, Paris and Munich. From 1999 to 2003, he worked for the Munich-based publisher Matthes & Seitz, which, in 2004, he re-established in Berlin and has been directing since as majority shareholder. Matthes & Seitz Berlin publishes some 70 new releases annually, including German literature, French and Russian literature in translation as well as non-fiction books such as the series “Fröhliche Wissenschaft” and “Naturkunden”.
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs founded the publishing house Verlag Hermann Schmidt together with her husband in 1992. She manages the house’s marketing and distribution and, together with her husband, oversees its programme planning. She has been volunteering in the book sector since 2003, first as chairperson of the Berufsbildungsausschuss des Börsenvereins (Vocational Training Committee of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and, from 2011 to 2016, as chairperson of the board of the Stiftung Buchkunst (Book Art Foundation). From 2018 to 2019 she represented the Börsenverein at the Deutsche Literaturkonferenz (German Literature Conference), from where she was sent to the Deutscher Kulturrat (German Cultural Council) as deputy speaker. Karin Schmidt-Friderichs was elected head of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) at the Buchtage 2019 (2019 Book Days).
The German Book Prize is worth a total of 37,500 euros. The winner receives 25,000 euros, the other five shortlisted authors receive 2,500 euros each. The German Book Prize 2024 will be presented in the Kaisersaal at Frankfurt’s Römer on the evening of October 14th – a first event marking the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The six authors will not find out which of them is to receive the German Book Prize until the evening of the official presentation.
Publishing companies can nominate up to two German-language novels from their current or planned list to be considered for the award. The books must be published between October 2024 and September 2024 and be on sale in shops at the latest when the shortlist is announced on September 17th. The jury looks through all nominations and if necessary, requests additional titles that it considers to be suitable. On August 20th, 2024, the 20 titles nominated for the German Book Prize will be announced. It is from this narrower selection that the jurors then choose six titles for the shortlist which will be published on September 17th. The winner is announced during the prize ceremony on October 14th.
Publishers can submit their titles from February 6th until March 20th, 2024.