Quick access:

Go directly to content (Alt 1) Go directly to first-level navigation (Alt 2)
Claim Goethe Institut Claim Goethe Institut

Canada

Leipzig Book Fair
Barbi Marković wins the fiction prize at the Leipzig Book Fair

Photo: The three award winners Ki-Hyang Lee, Tom Holert and Barbi Marković are at the Leipzig Book Fair. Ki-Hyang Lee holds a bouquet of flowers. The following is written on the wall in the background: "20 Jahre Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse (20 years of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize)"
The award winners (l-r): Ki-Hyang Lee, Tom Holert and Barbi Marković. | Photo (Detail): Hendrik Schmidt © picture alliance/dpa

Author Barbi Marković was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair prize for fiction. Other awards went to art historian Tom Holert and translator Ki-Hyang Lee.

By Online-Redaktion / dpa

Many visitors flocked to the Leipzig Book Fair last Thursday. On the afternoon of the first day of the fair, the jury ceremoniously announced this year’s winners.

Barbi Marković was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair fiction prize for her book Minihorror. In it, the author, born in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1980, describes the everyday lives of the protagonists Mini and Miki, lives primarily characterised by countless horror scenarios. In 26 episodes, Mini and Miki experience sometimes terrifying twists and turns. Although they try to do everything right, they lose themselves in the absurdities of everyday life in the city. It’s about the big and little middle-class nightmares, the everyday mishaps, the horror of the perfect family breakfast, or the ruined holiday.

Marković studied German and has lived in Vienna since 2006. In 2023, the author was awarded the Berlin Art Prize for Literature. Her book was published by Residenz Verlag.

Awards for Tom Holert and Ki-Hyang Lee

The Berlin art historian Tom Holert received the award for non-fiction/essays. His book ca. 1972: Gewalt – Umwelt – Identität – Methode focuses on the period following the revolutionary euphoria of 1968 using text and images. Holert was born in Hamburg in 1962 and has taught at the Freie Universität Berlin and other institutions.

Ki-Hyang Lee won in the translation category. She translated Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, consisting of ten short stories, from Korean into German. The awardee was born in Seoul in 1967 and lives in Munich.

Prize money for winners and nominees

The Leipzig Book Fair Prize is endowed with a total of 60,000 euros and is awarded in three categories. Each winner receives 15,000 euros, while 1,000 euros go to each nominee.

This year marks the 20th awarding by the Book Fair in the categories of fiction, non-fiction/essays, and translation. According to the organisers, 486 new publications from 177 publishers were submitted and reviewed by a seven-member jury.

This article was originally published by dpa and extended by a few text passages. 

Top