Lena Schätte wins the Ingeborg-Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt

Strässle held the laudatory speech for Lena Schätte, who accepted the renowned Ingeborg-Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt. "Was wir tragen" deals with the "dicksten Mädchen der Schule," according to the documents.

Audience Prize on the Previous Day

Already on Saturday, Schätte had won the BKS Bank Audience Prize by online vote, which is endowed with 7,000 euros and was coupled with the Carinthischer Sommer Festival Writer's Prize worth 3,000 euros.

In addition to Schätte, the jury awarded several other prizes. Kinga Tóth reached second place and received the Kelag Prize, endowed with 15,000 euros. The laudatory speech for Kinga Tóth was given by Brigitte Schwens-Harrant, who had invited Tóth with the text "OstblockMädl."

Kinga Tóth in Second Place

Schwens-Harrant described Tóth's polyphonic, multilingual prose as "frech, sehnsüchtig, poetisch, ein Feuerwerk, ein Gesang" and referred to it as Tóth's "neue" language. The prose shows how racism and nationalism carry out "ihre zerstörerische Arbeit am Selbstbild der Menschen." In her laudatory speech, Schwens-Harrant elaborated that Tóth leads readers into the border region between Austria and Hungary as a large cultural space shaped by women – for instance, by caregiving women who cross borders. "Deutsch ist nicht Tóths Muttersprache," according to the documents.

Other Prizes of the Competition

Also on Sunday, Magdalena Schrefel and Ozan Zakariya Keskinkilic received additional awards. Schrefel, Magdalena Schrefel, received the 3sat Prize, endowed with 7,500 euros, for her breast cancer text "Kirschen, Herz mit Verband." She had been invited by Laura de Weck, who defined literature in her introduction as the search for a form or formulation for "unverständliche, oder diffuse, oder existenzbedrohende, oder überfordernde Phänomene."

De Weck explained that Schrefel's text addresses, among other things, the question: "Wie begegnet man sich selbst mit einer lebensbedrohlichen Krankheit und wie begegnet man anderen?"

Background

The Deutschlandfunk Prize, endowed with 12,500 euros, went to Ozan Zakariya Keskinkilic for "Vater ohne Sohn." According to the organizer, Keskinkilic is German, and he had been invited by Mara Dlius. Dlius referenced Ingeborg Bachmann's words about the fear that the world might slip away from her, and said that Keskinkilic's text is about the search for one's own place in life. "Dieser Text glaubt an die Kraft der Literatur, den Stein am Fuße des Berges immer wieder aufzunehmen," Dlius said.

The 50th Days of German-Language Literature are considered one of the most important forums for contemporary German-language literature. The award ceremony took place on Sunday midday in Klagenfurt.