If you ask Stephan Seeger, Managing Director of the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation, about the writer Erich Loest (1926-2013), his verdict is clear: "He is still very present in Leipzig. But in the general public, in the general public at large, it has become quiet, and he doesn't deserve that."
The Media Foundation is taking Loest's 100th birthday on February 24 as an opportunity to present a special edition of an award named after him. The Erich Loest Prize, endowed with 10,000 euros, will go to the Dresden-born writer Durs Grünbein on Tuesday.
The prize is awarded every two years, with the next regular award ceremony scheduled for 2027. According to the foundation, the prize honors people who, like Loest, are openly - and often controversially - committed to democracy.
