The shortlist for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize is dominated by female authors in the fiction category this year. The jury has shortlisted four women: Helene Bukowski, Anja Kampmann, Katerina Poladjan and Elli Unruh. The only male author nominated is Norbert Gstrein from Austria. Their stories range from Kazakhstan to Hamburg's Reeperbahn during the Nazi era to Austria in the 20th century.
"We read and discussed our way through worlds, set ourselves skill and experiment, passion and art as milestones, rushed through contemporary literature and didn't make it easy for ourselves," explained jury chair Katrin Schumacher.
