"This prize is not just for me," said the author at the German Book Prize (Deutscher Buchpreis) presentation in Frankfurt, ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest in the world, scheduled for Wednesday to Sunday.
"I think the jury chose this text also to send a signal against hate, for love and for the fight of all these people who are repressed because of their bodies", declared the mustachioed author, award-winning for his first novel, "Blutbuch" ("Book of Blood").
After singing a song, she pulled out an electric razor and shaved her head on stage.
The jury said it was "inspired" by the novel, featuring, "with tremendous creative energy", a "non-binary narrator".
The German Book Prize rewards the best German-language novel of the year and is endowed with a prize of 25,000 euros.
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests since the death a month ago of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by vice squad.
Many artists have shown themselves, especially on social networks, cutting a lock of hair in solidarity with the struggle of Iranian women.
© 2022 AFP