Ceremony October 5th 2026
Ceremony October 5th 2026
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 sponsor of the prize is the Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation), and Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners.
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 Sebastian Guggolz is president of the German Book Prize Academy.
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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.
Julia Eisele studied German language and literature, Romance languages and philosophy in Cologne, Paris and Naples and worked as an editor and programme director at Penguin Random House and Piper before founding Eisele Verlag in 2016, which she has since run as the main shareholder. The authors she has published include Madeline Miller, Elke Heidenreich, Niccolò Ammaniti, Eva Lohmann, Rebecca Makkai, Julie von Kessel and Clare Chambers.
Daniel Fiedler (born 1966) is head of the culture department at ZDF in Berlin and is responsible for programmes such as “Das Literarische Quartett”, “aspekte” and “13 Fragen”. After studying theatre studies, German language and literature, and sociology in Berlin, he initially worked for several years in theatre and as chief dramaturge at the Felix Bloch Erben publishing house. He has been with ZDF since 2001, where he started as an advisor to the director of European satellite programmes and was subsequently responsible for the cultural programmes 3sat and ZDFkultur.
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.
Sebastian Guggolz, born in 1982 on Lake Constance, is a publisher, editor and, since 2025, head of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. He studied art history, German language and literature, and folklore in Hamburg. After several years as an editor at Matthes & Seitz Berlin, he founded the award-winning Guggolz Verlag in 2014, where he publishes new translations of forgotten classics from Northern and Eastern Europe. Since 2022, he has also been working in the editorial department of S. Fischer Verlag and, in addition to other jury activities, is spokesperson for the board of trustees of the German Literature Fund.
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.
Urs Hofmann, born in 1971, holds a doctorate in history and has been head of the Swiss guidebook publisher AT Verlag AG in Aarau since 2020. Previously, he was publishing director at the non-fiction publishing house of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ Libro and publishing editor, among other positions. Since 2024, he has been chairman of the publishing committee on the central board of the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association (SBVV).
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.
Gesche Joost was appointed the President of the Goethe-Institut in November 2024. As Professor of Design Research at the Berlin University of the Arts, she works across disciplines at the interface of the arts and sciences. In her research, she deals with the implications of digitisation and artificial intelligence for society and examines structures of digital colonialism and growing inequality. She is active in various supervisory bodies, including the Board of Trustees of the ZKM and the Supervisory Boards of ottobock and ING DiBa. From 2015 until 2018, she represented the German government in the EU Commission as “Digital Champion”. In Berlin, she helped to establish important institutions, including the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and the Einstein Center Digital Future.
Born and raised in Helmstedt, Braunschweig region, in 1967. Doctoral studies in philosophy and history in Berlin and Hamburg, publisher at Kowalke & Co. in Berlin (1995–2001), lecturer in philosophy (2001–2007), bookseller at Lessing und Kompanie in Chemnitz since 2008. Deputy Director of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association 2025–2028.
Beate Tröger studied German language and literature, English language and literature, and theatre, film and television studies in Erlangen and Berlin and lives as a freelance critic in Frankfurt am Main. She writes reviews for Deutschlandfunk, SWR and WDR, the FAZ, Freitag, Frankfurter Hefte, where she is co-editor of the culture section, and writes literary features. Beate Tröger is a member of the SWR Bestenliste. Since 2023, she has been the presenter and advisor for the Erlangen Poetry Festival. In 2025, she was awarded the Alfred-Kerr-Preis für Literaturkritik (Alfred-Kerr-Prize for Literary Criticism).
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 2026 will be presented in the Kaisersaal at Frankfurt’s Römer on the evening of October 5th – 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 2025 and September 2026 and be on sale in shops at the latest when the shortlist is announced on September 8th. The jury looks through all nominations and if necessary, requests additional titles that it considers to be suitable. On August 11th, 2026, 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 8th. The winner is announced during the prize ceremony on October 5th.
Publishers can submit their titles from February 3th until March 11th, 2026.