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Press Release of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association

Judges nominate 20 novels for the German Book Prize 2009

The first selection has now been made, with the judges deciding who is still in the running for the German Book Prize 2009. "The German Book Prize does one thing every year. It shows how high the standard of German-language literature is, how many proficiently written and intellectually good books are being produced and above all, that there is no single key idea of good literature behind all that, but that there is a rich variety with a great deal to say", says the judges' spokesman, Hubert Winkels, literary editor at Deutschlandfunk. "Many younger authors have also proved persuasive this time. We could have put together a 'shadow cabinet' of around twenty more very remarkable and prize-worthy novels. That's a lot for one year's production. It's a wonderful and a good sign", according to Winkels.

Over the past five months, the seven judges have looked through 154 titles either already published or due for publication between 1 October 2008 and 16 September 2009.

The nominated novels (in alphabetical order):

Alongside Hubert Winkels, the other judges on the panel for the German Book Prize 2009 are: Richard Kämmerlings (literary editor at the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung), Michael Lemling (managing director of Buchhandlung Lehmkuhl, Munich), Martin Lüdke (freelance literary critic), Lothar Müller (editor for the feature section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung), Iris Radisch (literary editor at DIE ZEIT) and Daniela Strigl (literary critic and literary researcher at Vienna University). This year, the heavy workload of reading was made available to the judges for the first time on an e-book handheld, the Sony Reader.

In the next step, the judges choose six titles from the longlist titles for inclusion on the shortlist which will be announced on 16 September 2009. It is not until the evening of the prize presentation that the six authors then find out which of them has won the German Book Prize. The winner receives 25,000 euros in prize money, with 2,500 euros going to each of the other five finalists.

The German Book Prize 2009 is awarded by the German Publishers & Booksellers Association - Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels – to the year's best German-language novel. Partners backing the award are Paschen & Companie, the 1822-Stiftung der Frankfurter Sparkasse, the Frankfurt Book Fair and Frankfurt City. Deutsche Welle primarily supports the German Book Prize by providing media publicity in other countries. The prize presentation ceremony is being held in the Kaisersaal at the Frankfurt Römer in the immediate run-up to the Frankfurt Book Fair on 12 October 2009. Radio stations Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcast the presentation live as part of documentary and discussion programmes on LW 153 and 177 kHz and on MW 990 and 855 kHz, as well as on digital satellite radio DVB-S, Bouquet ZDF.vision and livestream on the internet at www.dradio.de.

To coincide with the announcement of the longlist title nominations, MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH, a business subsidiary of the Börsenverein, publishes the " Lesebuch zur Longlist Deutscher Buchpreis 2009" – "Reader for the German Book Prize Longlist 2009". This includes extracts from the novels included on the longlist and background information on them. It will be available in bookshops as from Saturday. In September, seven German bookshops and six European cultural institutions will also be holding blind-date readings with the nominees.


Frankfurt am Main, 19 August 2009

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