This year's Fontane Literature Prize from the city of Neuruppin and the state of Brandenburg goes to Lisa Kränzler. The author, who lives in Dresden, is being honored for her fairy tale "Mariens Käfer" (Verbrecher Verlag, 2024), as announced by the Brandenburg Ministry of Culture.
"It is a fairy tale, a parable, a fable, as artistic as it is sophisticated, as surprising as it is funny," said State Secretary for Culture Tobias Dünow. The story is about "a beetle that wants to experience something". And about how the beetle comes to have a red shell with black dots.
The jury praised the linguistic diversity of the book. "From echoes of the Swabian dialect and early modern vernacular in the first part to the brash and punky contemporary narrative in the equally extensive second part," said jury chairman Iwan-Michelangelo D'Aprile. Kränzler sets herself apart from the trend in contemporary literature towards autobiographical first-person narratives and the mere depiction of supposed reality - she breaks into new literary territory.
40,000 euros in prize money
The award ceremony will take place on June 6 at the Kulturkirche in Neuruppin. The Fontane Literature Prize, which is endowed with 40,000 euros, is awarded as a two-year scholarship to authors who have aroused outstanding public interest with their work for the first time. The literature prize, which is awarded every two years, was first awarded in 1913. Previous winners include Alfred Döblin, Günter Grass, Wolf Biermann, Christa Wolf and Günter de Bruyn.
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