Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair: Anke Stelling wrote the novel of the spring

Anke Stelling has won the prize of the Leipzig Book Fair. She was awarded for the novel "sheep in the dry". The book has been published by the Berlin crime publisher.

In the category "nonfiction / essay writing", the jury, which consists of critics, had nominated journalists predominantly. The award went to Harald Jähner , editor of the "Berliner Zeitung" for 2015, for the book "Wolfszeit, Germany and the Germans 1945 - 1955". According to jury spokesman Bisky, it is a "panorama of mentality history" about a country in ruins, in which horror prevails, but which also spreads its life's courage. Jähner tells of the black market, of small thefts, on the basis of which a country discussed the border between good and evil, which had previously been responsible for the mass murder of Europe's Jews. Jähner's book "Vividness, Dramaturgic Flair and Eloquence" unites the jury.

Eva Ruth Wemme was awarded for the best translation. She translated the novel "Lost Morning" by Gabriela Adamesteanu from Romanian into German. The novel was originally published in Romania in 1983, despite critical passages about the communist regime under Nicolae Ceausescu. Another time level plays during the First World War. The different times also correspond to different language levels. The jury praised Wemme for having "translated with a great sense of the vile tone of his narrator Vica".

The winners were selected by a jury, for the first time under the direction of Jens Bisky, non-fiction editor at the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". The prize is based on a comprehensive idea of ​​literature, according to Bisky, and the jury recommends the excellent books to a "general public", they are titles that encourage debate and discussion.

The prize of the Leipzig Book Fair has been awarded in three categories since 2005; it is endowed with a total of € 60,000. This year, the publishers had submitted 359 books according to fair data, five titles were nominated. Last year, in the fiction category, Esther Kinsky won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for her novel "Hain".

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