Current Literature from Germany

The shortlist for this year's German Book Prize is out! It has now been decided which six authors can hope to win the prestigious and lucrative prize with their latest novels.

New graphic novels demonstrate the diversity of the genre. Anke Feuchtenberger's magnum opus was honoured as literature, Sandra Rummler looks back on East Berlin and the post-reunification period. And the two Swiss authors Nando von Arb and Tobias Aeschbacher were awarded for works that could not be more different.

Barbi Marković presents a multi-layered episodic novel in which she mixes everyday events with elements of the fantastic. The result: educational horror stories – and the award of the Leipzig Book Fair 2024.

Charlotte Gneuss’s everyday drama set in East Germany is surprising for its oppressive intensity and extraordinary, ordinary protagonist.

Anne Rabe’s remarkable family novel impressively traces a history of violence in (East) Germany. It stretches from the Nazi era to the present day.

Awarding the German Book Prize to Tonio Schachinger is a very good decision. His novel “Echtzeitalter” is narratively mature, entertaining and full of esprit. A commentary.

Lutz Seiler found his way to literature late in life. He first wrote poetry, celebrated his greatest successes with novels, and now received his literary accolade with the Georg Büchner Prize.

Vicco von Bülow, nommé Loriot, aurait eu 100 ans le 12 novembre 2023. Pour célébrer le grand humoriste et artiste, nous recueillons nos moments préférés de Loriot. 

Julia suffers from asthma. And she has just lost her job. Back in the village where she grew up, she is struggling to make a fresh start. But that’s not possible without confronting the demands and expectations of her family and the drab reality of village life. When Julia meets the “guy from the city”, a glimmer of hope emerges amid all the hopelessness.
 

The publication of Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre’s new novel was a major event for the feuilletonists. What will remain after the excitement has died down? A lot of unanswered questions and, one hopes, a lot of attention for an important social topic.

In a graphic novel, the composer and pioneer of electronic music Karlheinz Stockhausen seems like a being from another world to a small-town boy.

In Clemens J. Setz’s new novel, the main character believes that people do not live on, but inside the earth.

They are three words, each of which means a beginning and an end: I love you. I’m leaving you. But what lies in between? In the case of the first-person narrator in Julia Schoch’s new novel, a 30-year relationship. First elation, celebration, then everyday life, children, betrayal, anger. 

Andreas Steinhöfel and Melanie Garanin have produced a moving and humorous graphic novel from a TV series about anti-Semitism and racism at school.

As we know, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. In her second novel Fatma Aydemir tells the story of a family full of longings and disappointments who try to come together in spite of all their inner contradictions.

In her new novel, Judith Hermann tells the story of a women seeking to start a new life in an isolated seaside village. Having arrived, she is not only caught up by her past, but is also confronted by very different fates.

Identity policy can be difficult, polarising and confusing. Incorporating lots of topical allusions to academic life and popular culture, cultural scientist and writer Mithu Sanyal successfully presents the struggle for identity and the authority to define it in her tongue-in-cheek debut novel.

After his dark hit novel “Der goldene Handschuh” (The Golden Glove) about a real-life Jack-the-Ripper, Heinz Strunk has now published a romance novel. After reading it, though, you may feel glad you’re single.

These are not good times, not for the art scene, not for clubs. The Boros Foundation and Berghain joined forces last year and turned the orphaned techno club into an exhibition space. The exhibition closed again a long time ago. But you can browse the exhibition catalogue.

Origin, family, language, identity: These are the subjects of journalist and author Dilek Güngör. In her new book, she writes about the speechlessness between a father and daughter. But silence needn’t necessarily mean a lack of closeness.

Being Black should be completely unremarkable in today’s multicultural Germany. Yet many people still struggle with everyday discrimination and sometimes even blatant racism. Their stories are increasingly finding their way into German literature.

Save contemporary literature – that’s what the Berlin collective “Rich Kids of Literature” has pledged to do. This colourful group of authors and students has been causing a riot on the German literature scene since 2016 – with a literature show, an independent publishing house and lots of interest on social media.

Interstellar warfare, climate collapse, dangerous mutants: science fiction narratives frequently conjure up a dystopian future. Some writers have made it their business to counteract this – and create positive utopias.
 

Like research laboratories for the literary world, magazines present new voices, provide space for experimentation, and test formats. And right now diversity is higher than ever before.

What we think of as world history is still dominated by white men. This dominance is not only based on the selection of stylised, allegedly epoch-making figures – but also on the perspectives and identities of those telling the story. An interview with author Sharon Dodua Otoo.
 

​Black German literature has a long history and embraces a broad spectrum – it ranges from poetry and autobiographies to academic and activist writings. Yet even today, black German authors are still less visible, especially when it comes to fiction.

Each One Teach One (EOTO), a library and community centre in Berlin’s African Quarter, is a space that gives people of African descent the opportunity to transform their past into ideas for the future. Author and curator Michael Götting explains the importance and the history of this special place.