German Book Prize 2023: these are the 20 nominated novels

The jury for the German Book Prize 2023 has nominated 20 novels. Since the call for submissions went out, the jury has reviewed 196 titles published – or yet to be published – between October 2022 and 19 September 2023, when the shortlist will be announced. 

Jury spokesperson Katharina Teutsch (independent critic) released the following statement:

“A longlist is not simply a list of titles that a jury finds deserving of an award. It represents a collective reading process. What drives us? What is important to us? What literary discoveries have we made? Our selection this year once again proves that contemporary German-language literature is full of surprises. Newcomers appear confidently alongside established authors; small presses alternate with large publishers; stories of tragical gravity stand next to fantastical escapades. Recognising literary humour was also important to this year’s jury. What impressed us particularly about the selected titles at this moment in time is not only their narrative fuel but also the expression of a pleasantly undogmatic relationship to the world.”

The nominated novels (in alphabetic order) are:

•    Tomer Dotan-Dreyfus: Birobidschan (Verlag Voland & Quist, February 2023) 
•    Raphaela Edelbauer: Die Inkommensurablen (Klett-Cotta, January 2023) 
•    Sherko Fatah: Der große Wunsch (Luchterhand Literaturverlag, August 2023) 
•    Elena Fischer: Paradise Garden (Diogenes Verlag, August 2023) 
•    Charlotte Gneuß: Gittersee (S. Fischer Verlag, August 2023) 
•    Luca Kieser: Weil da war etwas im Wasser (Picus Verlag, August 2023) 
•    Angelika Klüssendorf: Risse (Piper Verlag, August 2023) 
•    Sepp Mall: Ein Hund kam in die Küche (Leykam Verlag, August 2023) 
•    Terézia Mora: Muna oder Die Hälfte des Lebens (Luchterhand Literaturverlag, August 2023) 
•    Thomas Oláh: Doppler (Müry Salzmann Verlag, February 2023) 
•    Angelika Overath: Unschärfen der Liebe (Luchterhand Literaturverlag, April 2023) 
•    Necati Öziri: Vatermal (claassen, July 2023) 
•    Teresa Präauer: Kochen im falschen Jahrhundert (Wallstein Verlag, February 2023) 
•    Anne Rabe: Die Möglichkeit von Glück (Klett-Cotta, March 2023) 
•    Kathrin Röggla: Laufendes Verfahren (S. Fischer Verlag, July 2023) 
•    Tonio Schachinger: Echtzeitalter (Rowohlt Verlag, March 2023) 
•    Sylvie Schenk: Maman (Carl Hanser Verlag, February 2023) 
•    Clemens J. Setz: Monde vor der Landung (Suhrkamp Verlag, February 2023) 
•    Tim Staffel: Südstern (Kanon Verlag Berlin, September 2023) 
•    Ulrike Sterblich: Drifter (Rowohlt Verlag Hundert Augen, July 2023)

In addition to Katharina Teutsch, the members of the jury are: Shila Behjat (journalist and publicist), Heinz Drügh (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Melanie Mühl (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Lisa Schumacher (bookshop “Steinmetz’sche Buchhandlung”, Offenbach), Florian Valerius (bookshop “Gegenlicht Buchhandlung”, Trier), Matthias Weichelt (Sinn und Form literary journal).

The next step will be for the members of the jury to select six titles from the longlist for inclusion on the shortlist, which will be announced on 19 September 2023. The six shortlisted authors will only find out who among them has won the German Book Prize on the evening of the award ceremony itself. The winner will receive 25,000 euros, the five finalists 2,500 euros each. The prize will be awarded in the Kaisersaal of the Frankfurt Römer on 16 October 2023, to coincide with the start of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, and will be broadcast live. 

The German Book Prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association). The main sponsor of the German Book Prize is the Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation), and Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners. The television network Deutsche Welle supports the German Book Prize in its media activities both at home and abroad.

Get to know the nominated novels: reading and audio samples, video clips, blog reviews

Beginning this week, the paperback “Deutscher Buchpreis 2023: Die Nominierten” (“German Book Prize 2023: The Nominees”) is available free of charge in many bookshops throughout Germany. It contains reading samples from and further information about all the nominated books, curated by Börsenblatt, the trade magazine of the technology and information provider MVB, and invites readers to discover the stories and their authors.

The podcast radio detektor.fm has produced audio samples from the 20 longlisted titles. The podcast episodes are available on www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/longlist and https://detektor.fm/serien/deutscher-buchpreis, as well as on the detektor.fm app and a dedicated podcast feed. 

In the coming weeks, under the hashtag #buchpreisbloggen, 20 literary bloggers will each present one of the nominated titles. The reviews will be collected on www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/news and shared on the social media channels of the German Book Prize.

A press photo of the jury is available on www.boersenverein.de/pressefotos 

More information about the German Book Prize 2023 can be found at 
www.deutscher-buchpreis.de

The hashtag for the German Book Prize 2023 is #dbp23