Festival of German-Language Literature

Sharon Dodua Otoo - Winner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for 2016

The Festival of German-Language Literature is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of awards are given, the major one being the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, first awarded in 1977 and one of the most important awards for literature in the German language.

History

In the mid seventies, the journalist and writer Humbert Fink and the chairman of the Austrian Radio and TV (ORF) studio in Carinthia at that time, Ernst Willner, decided to establish a literary competition based on an event held by Gruppe 47. They were able to enlist Marcel Reich-Ranicki amongst others onto the original jury. The result was the Festival of German-Language Literature, which has taken place annually since 1977 and is televised live by ORF.

The Ingeborg Bachmann Prize

The main prize of the Festival is given in memory of Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973), one of the most distinguished Austrian writers.

The prize winner is determined during a three-day reading event in which the invited candidates present their literary contributions, which have to be unpublished, to the nine-member professional jury and the public. Each presentation is about 25 minutes long and the original language of these contributions must be German.[1] A moderator presents and guides the readings and the discussions of the jury and the writers have to convince both the jury and the public of the quality of their contributions.

In 2008, the jury was reduced to seven members, the competing writers from eighteen to fourteen. Since 2006, the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize has been endowed with 25,000 EUR. In 2009, a total of 56,500 EUR was awarded to the participants.[2]

Other prizes

Several other literature prizes are awarded during the Festival, in total usually three to five awards. Over the years, additional sponsored prizes have been awarded:

Prize winners

See also

References

  1. ↑ See the announcement of the Bachmann Prize at the Uschtrin Service, retrieved on 2011-04-04.
  2. ↑ English information on the Prize of 2009, retrieved on 2011-04-04.
  3. ↑ Bachmann-Preis geht an Sharon Dodua Otoo bei kaernten.orf.at, 3. Juli 2016 (abgerufen am 3. Juli 2016).
  4. ↑ Bachmann-Preis geht an Nora Gomringer kaernten.orf.at, 5. Juli 2015
  5. ↑ Rubinowitz gewinnt Bachmannpreis kaernten.orf.at, 6 July 2014
  6. ↑ Petrowskaja gewinnt Bachmannpreis kaernten.orf.at, 7 July 2013
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.