Literature Prize for Gernhardt: Thiede and Bach receive 30,000 euros!

Literature Prize for Gernhardt: Thiede and Bach receive 30,000 euros!

In Hesse there are the latest news from the literary landscape: Lina Thiede and Kathrin Bach were awarded the Robert Gernhardt Prize 2023. This was announced by the Hessian Minister of Culture Timon Gremmels (SPD). The price, endowed with 30,000 euros, is divided between the two talented authors and appreciates works that deal with topics such as exclusion, belonging and social roles. The award ceremony will take place on September 18 in Frankfurt, and the excellent stories are currently still being created.

Kathrin Bach, who saw the light of day in Wiesbaden in 1988, has already published several poetry volumes and their debut novel “Life Insurance”. Her current project is entitled "Under the example of my uncle" and deals with a small man. Lina Thiede, born in Gießen in 1996, also made a lot of attention in the literary scene. She has released three novels and is now working on "Weaving at night", where she describes the life of a young mother in an hostile village. This prize is named after the renowned writer Robert Gernhardt (1937-2006), whose influence on German literature is sustainable.

background of the price

The Robert Gernhardt Prize is awarded by the state of Hesse and the Hesse Economic and Infrastructure Bank. This award is not only a sign of respect for the respective cultural and social contributions of the authors, but also contributes to the visibility of new literary voices and their topics. The prize stands for a culture of appreciation and promotion of literature that comes to the fore social issues. According to the results of a research project, which deals with literature awards in German -speaking countries, prices play a decisive role in the diversification of the literary field and the nobilitation of new genres.

As part of this project, it is also examined how literary prices can contribute to recognizing marginalized votes in the literature. It becomes clear that the promotion of literary projects, as followed by Thiede and Bach, is essential for the further development of the literary dialogue. Such awards help to question the hierarchies of traditional literary evaluations and to introduce new topics into the canon. Despite a variety of prices, the quality of these awards is discussed again and again; An increase in awards can be seen both as recognition and as an expression of inflation in the literary scene.

The anticipation for the award ceremony on September 18 is definitely great, and we can be excited to see which creative impulses will end up with the two winners. It remains to be hoped that your works will not only enrich the literary landscape, but also impeties about discussions about the topics that affect us all - because there is something going on!

For more information about the award ceremony and the award winners, you can report the reports on FAZ and Augsburger Allgemeine DFG-Projekt University Duisburg-Essen .