June 25, 2016 2–8.30 pm: Celebration of the Shortlist 6.30 pm

Transcription

June 25, 2016 2–8.30 pm: Celebration of the Shortlist 6.30 pm
June 25, 2016
2–8.30 pm: Celebration of the Shortlist
6.30 pm: Award Ceremony
as of: June 25, 2016
Subject to change
TABLE OF CONTENT
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Program: Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony
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Press Release dated June 14, 2016: Announcement of the Award Winners
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The Award Winners: Shumona Sinha and Lena Müller
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Press Release dated May 18, 2016: Announcement of the Shortlist
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The Shortlist 2016
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Jury of 2016
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Chronicle: Award Winners and Nominees 2009-2015
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Award, Foundation, and Partners
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ILP on blog, Media Material
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Press Release dated June 16, 2016: Kids & Teens Workshop on the ILP
Press Contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
PROGRAM
Internationaler Literaturpreis 2016
Award for translated contemporary literatures
EXTENDING THE READING ZONE
Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony
June 25, 2016, 2-8.30 pm
Stage 1
2 pm
OPENING
Bernd Scherer (Director HKW)
Stage 1
2.15–2.30 pm
READING (German - Spanish)
Die Geschichte meiner Zähne
Laïa Jufresa | Antje Kunstmann
Stage 1
2.30–3.15 pm
CONVERSATIONS ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German – English - Spanish)
Die Geschichte meiner Zähne by Valeria Luiselli | Dagmar Ploetz
Laïa Jufresa | Antje Kunstmann | Sabine Scholl | Thomas Böhm (M)
Stage 1
3.15–3.30 pm
READING (German - English)
Double Negative
Ivan Vladislavić | Thomas Brückner
Stage 1
3.30–3.45 pm
READING (German - Polish)
Dunkel, fast Nacht
Joanna Bator |Lisa Palmes
Stage 1
3.45–4.30 pm
CONVERSATION ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German – English -Polish)
Dunkel, fast Nacht
Joanna Bator | Lisa Palmes | Iris Radisch (M)
Stage 2
3.45-4.30 pm
CONVERSATION ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German - English)
Double Negative
Ivan Vladislavić | Thomas Brückner | Michael Krüger| Thomas Böhm (M)
Pressekontakt. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
PROGRAM
Stage 1
4.30–4.45 pm
READING (German - Russian)
Der Perser
Alexander Ilitschewski | Andreas Tretner
Stage 1
4.45–5 pm
READING (German - Swedish)
Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradiese her
Johannes Anyuru | Paul Berf
Stage 1
5–5.45 pm
CONVERSATION ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German – English - Swedish)
Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradiese her
Johannes Anyuru | Paul Berf | Marko Martin | Thomas Böhm (M)
Stage 2
5–5.45 pm
CONVERSATION ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German – English - Russian)
Der Perser
Alexander Ilitschewski | Andreas Tretner | Jörg Plath (M)
Stage 1
6.30–6.45 pm
HONOURING SPEACH & AWARD REMITTING CEREMONY (German – English - French)
for Shumona Sinha & Lena Müller
with. Sabine Peschel | Bernd Scherer | Jan Szlovak
Stage 1
6.45–7 pm
READING (German - French)
Erschlagt die Armen!
Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller
Stage 1
7–7.45 pm
CONVERSATION ON LITERARY MATERIAL (German – English - French)
Erschlagt die Armen!
Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller | Sabine Peschel | Thomas Böhm (M)
Stage 2
7.45–8 pm
ROUNDTABLE
Economies of Translating (German - English)
Paul Berf | Thomas Brückner | Lena Müller| Lisa Palmes | Andreas Tretner | Aurélie Maurin (M)
Pressekontakt. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
PROGRAM
Stage 1
8–8.30 pm
ROUNDTABLE
Being Translated (German - English)
Johannes Anyuru | Alexander Ilitschewski | Shumona Sinha |Ivan Vladislavić | Thomas Böhm (M)
Moderations (M): Aurélie Maurin & Thomas Böhm
All readings from the original text and from the German translation.
All conversations on literary material with simultaneous translation in (the author's) original
language, German and English
Roundtables with simultaneous translation English/German
www.hkw.de/literatureaward
Blog www.ilp-onblog.de
Facebook www.facebook.com/internationalerliteraturpreis
Twitter www.twitter.com/ILP_Berlin
Pressekontakt. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
PRESS RELEASE
Internationaler Literaturpreis 2016 – Award for translated contemporary literatures
Prize winning duo 2016: Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller
Saturday, June 25, 2016, 2 – 8:30 pm
Extending the Reading Zone – Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony
Conversations on literary material, readings 2–6 pm
Award ceremony & roundtable discussions 6:30–8:30 pm
Berlin, June 14, 2016
The Internationaler Literaturpreis – Haus der Kulturen der Welt 2016 goes to the prize winning duo
Shumona Sinha and her translator Lena Müller. The award ceremony will take place on Saturday,
June 25, 2016 as part of Extending the Reading Zone (starting at 2 pm), which will gather all of the
shortlisted authors and translators and the prize winning duo at Haus der Kulturen der Welt for
readings, conversations on literary materials and roundtable discussions between 2 and 8:30 pm.
The jury explained its choice for the novel Erschlagt die Armen!, published in German translation in
2015 by Edition Nautilus (French: Assomons les pauvres!, Editions de l’Olivier, Paris 2011):
“The diagnostic power of literature: The original novel was published in 2011 and is far more than a
commentary on the current situation. The author, who was born in Kolkata and has lived in Paris for 15
years, evokes a drama of inextricable entanglements in a furious, poetic and precise tirade. Refugees
appear with their inner distress and all their biographical disruptions alongside civil servants of a
determining authority with their inner detachment. The monolog of the first person narrator – an
interpreter in a French asylum determining authority – circumvents both a paternalistic viewpoint and
xenophobic paranoia. In her intermediary position in the no man’s land of languages, categories and
worldviews, she unyieldingly demonstrates what happens when the truth does not fit into the given
scheme. Lena Müller has powerfully conveyed Sinha’s harsh prose into German with her unruly, poetic
barbs that explore the effective power of language.”
In 2016, the jury members are Leila Chammaa, Michael Krüger, Marko Martin, Sabine Peschel,
Jörg Plath, Iris Radisch and Sabine Scholl.
Starting this year, the prize moneys for the Internationaler Literaturpreis will be €20,000 for the
author (€25,000 in previous years) and €15,000 for the translator (€10,000 previously). It has been
conferred by Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Stiftung Elementarteilchen (Hamburg) since 2009. The
winners from previous years can be reviewed here.
The author: Shumona Sinha, born in Calcutta in 1973, has lived in Paris since 2001 where she studied
literature at the Sorbonne. From 2001 to 2008, Sinha worked as a secondary school English teacher;
from 2009 she worked as an interpreter for the French migration authority. Following the publication
of Assommons les pauvres! in 2011, she lost her job. Sinha has published numerous novels and volumes
of poetry in French and Bengali. Assommons les pauvres! (German title: Erschlagt die Armen!) received
a number of French awards including the 2011 Prix du roman populiste.
The translator: Lena Müller, born in 1982, studied creative writing and cultural journalism at the
University of Hildesheim and adult education and cultural mediation in Paris. She is the co-publisher
and editor of the French language magazine timult, works as a freelance translator and author and in
2015 she received a scholarship to the Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium in Straelen.
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Phone +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
PRESS RELEASE
On Saturday, June 25, starting at 2 pm, the shortlisted authors and translators and the prize-winning
duo will gather for an afternoon and evening of readings and accompanying conversations on literary
materials. Extending the Reading Zone – the Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony –
will open a course around changing language codes, encompassing and far-reaching texts and
paratexts and unexpected complicities and readerships in an accelerated literary present. In a variety
of formats, the audience is invited to explore the brilliant narrative voices and translations as well as
the multiple writing and reading experiences of authors and translators and various readers: from the
authors and translators themselves to the jury members and the social reading group of the 2016
shortlist. At 6:30 pm, the Award Ceremony will follow the literary celebration of the Shortlist. The
evening will end with three roundtable discussions with all of the authors and translators on the
Economies of Translating and the experience of Being Translated.
Extending the Reading Zone with the prize winners Shumona Sinha and Lena Müller as well as
the shortlisted author-translator-duos Johannes Anyuru and Paul Berf, Joanna Bator and Lisa
Palmes, Alexander Ilitschewski and Andreas Tretner, Ivan Vladislavić and Thomas Brückner as
well as Laia Jufresa and Antje Kunstmann will be held on the riverside terrace in front of and inside
the Restaurant Auster at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The program will be moderated by Aurélie
Maurin and Thomas Böhm.
The Conversations on literary material will be held in the original language with German/English
translation, the roundtable discussions with English/German simultaneous translation.
Important! HKW is undergoing renovations. Please have a look at the displays on site.
Photos to download: www.hkw.de/pressphotos
Press release to download: www.hkw.de/press
More information at www.hkw.de/literatureaward
Facebook www.facebook.com/internationalerliteraturpreis
Twitter twitter.com/ILP_Berlin
Blog www.ilp-onblog.de
In cooperation with the Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer literarischer und wissenschaftlicher Werke (VdÜ), the Kurt
Wolff Stiftung (KWS), the Literaturinstitut of the University of Hildesheim, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels
(Landesverband Berlin-Brandenburg) e.V. as well as the graduate Literature and Practical Media Studies program at the
University of Duisburg-Essen and the ocelot bookstore, presented by Deutsche Welle, Radio FluxFM, the journal BuchMarkt,
the journal Literarischer Monat, the writer and artist network Faust-Kultur and the literature podcast Litradio.
With kind support from the Embassy of Sweden in Berlin.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt is funded by the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the German
Foreign Ministry.
Pressekontakt:
Barbara Stang / PR Consulting
Haus der Kulturen der Welt Anne Maier / Pressereferentin
Schlegelstr. 21
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10115 Berlin
10557 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 21606124 Mobil: +49 175 56 32 602
Tel. +49 30 397 87 153/196
[email protected] /www.stang-pr.de
[email protected] / www.hkw.de
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Phone +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE AWARD WINNERS 2016
Jury decision for the award winners 2016
Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller
Erschlagt die Armen!
French: Assommons les pauvres!
Edition Nautilus 2015 | Editions de l'Olivier, Paris 2011
For the author Shumona Sinha
The jury: Even though the original work was published in 2011, Shumona Sinha’s novel is unique and
up-to-the-minute. Only she could have written it: the Indian woman who came to France fifteen years
ago to attend university, who made her home in Paris and the French language, who worked as an
interpreter for an immigration authority. The author poured the misery and the desperation, the
clumsy lies and bought stories of her former compatriots from Southern Asia into the both furious
and poetic monologue of her first person narrator. In the wrathful, remembering and reflecting
interpreter Suada, Sinha evokes a drama of inextricable entanglements. Refugees with their inner
distress and all their biographical disruptions appear before civil servants of a French determining
authority who soberly embody an unrelenting system. There is no clear good and evil in this novel.
The nameless first-person narrator circumvents both a paternalistic viewpoint and xenophobic
paranoia. In her intermediary position in the no man’s land of languages, categories and worldviews,
she unyieldingly demonstrates what can happen when the ugly truth does not fit into the given
scheme. Sinha has found a radical language for the misery of those people stranded in the urban
fringes, the absurdity of the circumstances and the sad attempts at female self-empowerment, that is
harsh, precise and yet rich in lyric metaphors. The title of Shumona Sinha’s novel was borrowed from
Charles Baudelaire. In the way that the French writer provoked society in 1865 with his sarcastic
prose poem, with Erschlagt die Armen! She demonstrates a great sensibility for diagnosing the times.
Berlin, June 25, 2016, awarded by
Bernd Scherer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Jan Szlovak
Stiftung Elementarteilchen
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE AWARD WINNERS 2016
For the translator Lena Müller
The jury: With a clear sense of the overriding socio-political correlations, and an equally acute
sensitivity to the vagaries of the human soul, Lena Müller has given this critically reflective work an
incisive German voice full of power and urgency. She has communicated the realities, backgrounds,
compulsions and perspectives of the players linguistically and stylistically such that she brings us to
the heart of the motivation and logic of each pattern of action in all its absurdity and with all its
ramifications. The translation also masters changes in mood and tone with bravura. Whether
descriptive, reminiscent or narrative; whether contemplative, sorrowful or angry; whether matteroffactly taciturn or poetically figured—the translator brilliantly commands the entire spectrum of
language variations. Lena Müller captures the entire force of the original. Her translation speaks
inevitably to the reader, it moves and unsettles. She gets under our skin, refuses to let loose, keeps us
thinking even after we’ve finished reading. Lena Müller’s translation does justice to the original—she
leaves no-one untouched.
Berlin, June 25, 2016, awarded by
Bernd Scherer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Jan Szlovak
Stiftung Elementarteilchen
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE AWARD WINNERS 2016
About the book
A young woman who works as an interpreter for the asylum authority in Paris smashes a wine bottle
over the head of a migrant in the subway. At the police station they encounter one another from the
other side of the interrogation table: What is the truth, what were the motives for the act? All
questions which she has to translate for the refugees–mainly men–on a daily basis while the answers
she translates for the case workers all sound the same, the fine nuances interpreted as signs of a made
up story or bitter reality. While no one in this bureaucratic machinery is allowed to be an individual,
every meeting is a grueling encounter. The first-person narrator is caught between the fronts, between
frustrated applicants and reluctant decision makers and can only escape this confinement with candid
words, blind rage and unbridled language.
About the author
Shumona Sinha, born in Calcutta in 1973, has lived in Paris since 2001 where she studied literature
at the Sorbonne. From 2001 to 2008 Sinha worked as a secondary school English teacher; from 2009
she herself worked as an interpreter for the French migration authority. Her first novel Fenêtre sur
l’Abîme appeared in 2008. Following the publication of Assommons les pauvres! in 2011, she lost her
job. Her third novel Calcutta, published in 2014, will be published in German translation in August
2016. Sinha has published numerous volumes of poetry in French and Bengali. Assommons les
pauvres! (German title: Erschlagt die Armen!) was awarded the 2012 Prix Valery-Larbaud and the
2011 Prix du roman populiste. It was also shortlisted for the Prix Renaudot and Prix Médicis.
About the translator
Lena Müller, born in 1982, studied creative writing and cultural journalism at the University of
Hildesheim and adult education and cultural mediation in Paris. She has been co-publisher and editor
of the French language magazine timult since 2009 and has worked as a freelance translator and
author since 2012. In 2013 she was awarded a scholarship from the Goldschmidt Program for young
literary translators. In 2015 she received a residential scholarship at the Europäisches ÜbersetzerKollegium in Straelen.
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
Press Release
For the eighth time: Internationaler Literaturpreis 2016
SIX BOOKS NOMINATED FOR THE SHORTLIST
Announcement of the prize winning duo: Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony: Saturday, June 25, 2016 starting at 2 pm
Berlin, May 18, 2016
For the eighth time, on June 25, 2016, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, together with Stiftung
Elementarteilchen, will confer the Internationaler Literaturpreis.
New this year: The total prize moneys of €35,000 will be divided up in €20,000 for the author
(€25,000 in previous years) and €15,000 for the translator (€10,000 previously).
This year, German-language publishers submitted 151 titles that were translated into German from
31 languages.
The 2016 Shortlist:
Johannes Anyuru | Paul Berf
Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradiese her
Swedish: En storm kom från paradiset
Luchterhand Literaturverlag 2015 | Norstedts, Stockholm 2012
Joanna Bator | Lisa Palmes
Dunkel, fast Nacht
Polish: Ciemno, prawie noc
Suhrkamp Verlag 2016 | W.A.B., Warsaw 2012
Alexander Ilichevsky | Andreas Tretner
Der Perser
Russian: Перс
Suhrkamp Verlag 2016 | Astrel, Moscow 2010
Valeria Luiselli | Dagmar Ploetz
Die Geschichte meiner Zähne
Spanisch: La historia de mis dientes
Verlag Antje Kunstmann 2016 | Editorial Sexto Piso, Mexico 2014
Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller
Erschlagt die Armen!
French: Assommons les pauvres!
Edition Nautilus 2015 | Editions de l'Olivier, Paris 2011
Ivan Vladislavić | Thomas Brückner
Double Negative
English: Double Negative
A1 Verlag 2015 | Umuzi, Cape Town 2010
Press Officer: Anne Maier, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Phone +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
Press Release
The jury explains their choices for the 2016 Shortlist:
“This year’s shortlist gathers narratives whose authors’ and characters’ lives all hover between
languages, cultures and systems that were rendered in German by translators who energize their
language in a fascinating way and sometimes reinvent it altogether.
Alexander Ilichevsky , inspired by the linguistic and mental experiments of the futurist poet
Chlebnikov, creates a psycho-geography of the oil-rich frontier between Azerbaijan and Iran. Valeria
Luiselli’s work slyly unites philosophy, satire, essay and dental biography. Central European history
from a female perspective is told by Joanna Bator in an iridescent blend of crime, thriller, historical
and family novel and Zeitroman. In Shumona Sinha’s novel, an interpreter in a Paris determining
authority holds a furious speech about the destructive conflicts between refugees and the civil
servants who determine their fates. Johannes Anyuru’s novel about his Ugandan father recounts the
existential forlornness of refugees. With metaphors of photography, Ivan Vladislavić produces a
picture puzzle of Johannesburg during and after apartheid.”
The jury of 2016 consists of the translator and Islamic scholar Leila Chammaa, the author and former
publisher Michael Krüger, the writer and publicist Marko Martin, the sinologist and editor Sabine
Peschel, the literary critic and cultural journalist Jörg Plath, the literary critic and journalist Iris
Radisch, and the writer and essayist Sabine Scholl.
The announcement of this year’s prize winning duo will be made on June 14, 2016. On June 25, the
nominated authors and their translators will gather at the HKW for the Celebration of the Shortlist
& Award Ceremony. In readings, conversations on literary material and round table discussions, they
will negotiate “Extending the Reading Zone” and the multi-faceted narrative spectrum of the shortlist
authors and translators.
The winners from previous years can be reviewed here.
More information at www.hkw.de/literatureaward
Facebook www.facebook.com/internationalerliteraturpreis
Twitter twitter.com/ILP_Berlin
Blog www.ilp-onblog.de
In cooperation with Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer literarischer und wissenschaftlicher Werke (VdÜ), the Kurt
Wolff Stiftung (KWS), the Literary Institute of the Universität Hildesheim, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels
(Landesverband Berlin-Brandenburg) e.V., and the master’s program Literatur und Medienpraxis at the Universität
Duisburg-Essen and ocelot bookshop, presented by Deutsche Welle, Radio FluxFM, the journal BuchMarkt, the journal
Literarischer Monat, the network of writers and artists Faust-Kultur and the literary podcast Litradio.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as by
the Federal Foreign Office.
Press contacts:
Barbara Stang
PR Consulting
Schlegelstr. 21
10115 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 21606124
Mobile: +49 175 56 32 602
[email protected], www.stang-pr.de
Anne Maier
Press officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 397 87 153/196
[email protected]
Press Officer: Anne Maier, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Phone +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
Johannes Anyuru | Paul Berf
Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradiese her
Swedish: En storm kom från paradiset
Luchterhand Literaturverlag 2015 | Norstedts, Stockholm 2012
About the author
Johannes Anyuru, born in 1979, is considered one of Sweden’s best young poets and prose writers.
His debut in 2003 with the widely acclaimed collection of poems Det är bara gudarna som är nya was
followed by two further collections Omega (2005) and Städerna inuti Hall (2009). His first
novel Skulle jag dö under andra himlar was published in 2010. Anyuru's poetry, commenting on
topical political issues such as racism, integration and refugee policy, appears regularly in Swedish
newspapers. As a member of the rap duo Broken Word Anyuru experiments with verbal poetry
forms and in 2009, he also published his first play Bro Förvaret. The semi-autobiographical En storm
kommer från paradise (German title: Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradies her), an attempt to understand
his father's fate, is his second novel and the first to appear in German translation. Anyuru's work,
which has been translated into seven languages, has won numerous awards, most recently the Ivar
Lo-Johansson Prize and the De Nio Association’s Winter Prize.
About the translator
Paul Berf, born 1963 in Frechen near Cologne, was initially trained to be a book dealer before he
studied Scandinavian, German and English philology as well as Literature at the universities of
Cologne and Uppsala. Since 1999, after a period as a publishing house editor, he has lived and
worked in Cologne as a freelance translator of Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian literature. Among
other authors, he has translated the work of Aris Fioretos, Tua Forsström, Selma Lagerlöf, Karl Ove
Knausgård, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Fredrik Sjöberg, Kjell Westö and Carl-Henning Wijkmark. In 2005,
he was awarded the Translator Prize of The Swedish Academy for his work.
About the book
The protagonist, named P., travels from Europe to Zambia to work as a pilot, however, on arriving at
the airport, he is arrested under suspicion of espionage. In Greece he had begun to train as a fighter
pilot under orders from the Ugandan government, but after Idi Amin's successful coup, decided
against returning to Uganda. Primarily by chance, P. is caught between the fronts, enduring endless
interrogations and constantly being shuffled from one camp to the next. At some point the displaced
P. is able to gain a foothold in Sweden, however, he remains estranged from the security of family and
nationality. On his father's deathbed, P.'s son tries to imagine his fractured history, which is retraced
using Benjamin's figure of the Angel of History. In the process he gains an understanding for the
tragedy and hopelessness of a human life, exemplary for so many of the 20th century’s displaced and
expelled persons.
The jury on the nomination:
“Johannes Anyuru’s father novel, Ein Sturm wehte vom Paradiese her, does not employ the usual
father-son schema or narcissistically expound on the all too familiar topos of the vague and uncertain
nor the difficulty of rapprochement. As a consequence, his debut novel is infused with an artistic
stringency whose allure it is virtually impossible to escape. A Ugandan refugee becomes a reluctant
wanderer between worlds, and that which appears ‘exotic’ from our perspective suddenly reveals
itself to be an extreme form of the ‘condition humaine’: From the man-made hell of Idi Amin’s
Uganda, to the equivocal, cool paradise of Sweden, where Sangfroid frequently transpires to be
indifferent. However, Johannes Anyuru has not written an accusatory pamphlet, but a graphic and
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
unforgettable biography of an individual. What more could one ask of literature? Paul Berf has
mastered the translational challenges–the continual changes in perspective and time both–with
textual fidelity and stylistic elegance.”
Joanna Bator | Lisa Palmes
Dunkel, fast Nacht
Polish Ciemno, prawie noc
Suhrkamp Verlag 2016 | W.A.B., Warschau 2012
About the author
Joanna Bator, born in Poland in 1968, left her home town at an early age―like her protagonist―and
studied cultural science and philosophy in Warsaw where she wrote her doctoral thesis on feminism,
postmodernism and psychoanalysis. As a lecturer, she taught at a number of universities and spent
several years conducting research in Japan. In addition to scientific publications, she has also
published essays in major Polish newspapers and magazines. Her first two novels, Piaskowa
Góra (English title: Sandy Mountain) and Chmurdalia (English title: Cloudalia), made Joanna Bator
one of the most important new voices in European literature. For Ciemno, prawie noc (German
title: Dunkel, fast Nacht; 2012) she was awarded the NIKE, Poland’s most important literature prize.
About the translator
Lisa Palmes, born in Greven in 1975, studied Polish philology and German philology and linguistics in
Berlin and Warsaw. Since the end of 2008 she has worked as a freelance translator of Polish
literature. Since 2013, she has been co-organizer of a series of talks featuring Polish writers and in
2014, she received a grant from the Freundeskreis Literaturübersetzer for the translation of Dunkel,
fast Nacht. She is currently working on translations from Katarzyna Puzyńska and Ludwik Hirszfeld.
About the book
The widely-traveled journalist, Alicja Tabor, returns to her Silesian hometown of Walbrzych. The city
is in uproar - three children have disappeared and a web of lies, slander and persecution is spreading
throughout the town. The unsuccessful investigation is fomenting the anger of the residents and
inflaming the rumors, suspicions and accusations. Alicija begins her own search for clues, and ends at
on a trail of her own and which follows German history. More and more eerie places full of empty
symbols and connections, a panorama of the violence of expulsion and child abuse, reveal
themselves. With virtuoso shifts in style, these different strands are interwoven with the slogans on
the radio and diatribes in Internet forums, accompanied by the poetic fantasies of the sister who took
her own life. Iridescent and multilayered, Bator creates a differentiated portrait of Central European
history and its contemporary realities.
The jury on the nomination:
“In an iridescent mixture of horror, history, family and the social, Joanna Bator majestically and
convincingly weaves together a multitude of narrative strands, layers of language and reality. The
sinister (German) history of the region of Silesia is interwoven with a mysterious family history.
Everything turns into (empty) symbols, becomes suspicious, with missing persons lurking
everywhere. All appears hollow and decayed, but still present as skeletons, memories, and ruins.
Bator has produced a wild, labyrinthine fantasy which continually recombines at thousand clues and
narrative threads, playfully holding them in balance. The virtuoso literary derealization with its
multiple tonalities has been wonderfully translated into German by Lisa Palmes.”
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
Alexander Ilichevsky | Andreas Tretner
Der Perser
Russian: Pers
Suhrkamp Verlag 2016 | Astrel, Moskau 2010
About the author
Alexander Ilichevsky, born in Sumgait/Azerbaijan in 1970, grew up in Moscow where he studied
mathematics and theoretical physics. Following graduation in 1993 he taught at the Moscow Institute
of Physics and Technology. In the 1990s he emigrated to California when he continued to pursue a
scientific career which also took him to Israel. Following a trip to Amsterdam he returned to Baku in
1998. Since then he has published many volumes of poetry and essays, books of short stories and
novels which have received numerous prestigious prizes. Alexander Ilichevsky has lived in Tel Aviv
since 2013. Der Perser is the second part of a tetralogy of which the third and fourth parts still
remain to be translated.
About the translator
Andreas Tretner, born in Gera in 1959, studied Russian and Bulgarian in Leipzig and has worked as a
literary translator since 1985. For his work as an editor, publisher, critic, journalist and media
educator he received numerous awards. He has translated, amongst others, the following authors
into German: Viktor Pelewin, Vladimir Sorokin und Jáchym Topol. In 2012 he received the
Internationaler Literaturpreis - Haus der Kulturen der Welt for his translation from the Russian of
Michail Schischkin’s Venushaar.
About the book
Ilja, an Azerbaijani geologist working for the oil industry, returns to the peninsula of Abșeron
following a failed relationship in the USA in order to track down his childhood friend Haşem. The two
friends could not have developed more differently. The broadly educated Haşem, the son of Iranian
refugees, lives as an ornithologist amongst a group of gamekeepers in the nature reserve of Şirvan,
protecting the animals from the hunting excesses of the rich. His lifestyle and aura captivate Ilja,
throwing his life into question. However, instead of hardened fronts, their opposing characters meet
in continual negotiations between science and poesy, technology and nature which lace the plot in
the form of lengthy digressions. In the vein of the artificial language of the Soviet Futurist Velimir
Chlebnikow, the novel synthesizes a global thought experiment.
The jury on the nomination:
“Alexander Ilichevsky’s novel Der Perser is a raging torrent of oil that has broken its banks. Full of
intensity, unruly and continually surprising, the Russian author tells the story of two friends in the oil
region around Baku in Azerbaijan. Ilja, a geologist, who can literally hear the black gold under the
earth, returns from the USA in search of his wife only to meet his childhood friend and religious
thinker, Haşem, a member of a group of militant nature conservationists. With his rich vocabulary,
Andreas Tretner lends this sweeping narrative, which includes lovingly written digressions on
subjects as diverse as bacteria and falconry, a rhythmical power, generating an intricate, polyvocal
portrait of a region of the world that is at once peripheral and global.”
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
Valeria Luiselli | Dagmar Ploetz
Die Geschichte meiner Zähne
Spanish: La historia de mis dientes
Verlag Antje Kunstmann 2016 | Editorial Sexto Piso, Mexiko 2014
About the author
Valeria Luiselli, born in Mexiko City in 1983, writes for magazines and newspapers such as Letras
Libres and the New York Times. She has written librettos for the New York City Ballet and is the
author of the critically acclaimed volume of essays Papeles falsos. Her essays as well as her first
novel Los ingrávidos (English title: Faces in the Crowd) have been translated into several languages..
For this debut work she received the 2014 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She works as an editor,
journalist, and lecturer and lives in Mexico City and New York.
About the translator
Dagmar Ploetz, born in 1946 in Herrsching, spent her childhood and school years in Argentina and
studied German and Romance philology in Munich. From 1971-76 she was co-editor of
the Literarische Hefte. From 1973-76 she worked as a publishing house editor, and subsequently as a
freelance journalist. Since 1983 she has translated from Spanish (amongst others Rafel Chirbes,
Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Masé). In 2005 she received the Jane Scatcherd Prize and in 2012 the
Translation Prize of the City of Munich. In 2011 she was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in
the category Translation for her rendition of Carlos Busqued’s novel Unter dieser furchterregenden
Sonne (Bajo este sol tremendo). In 2014 she was nominated for the Internationaler Literaturpreis –
Haus der Kulturen der Welt for her translation of Valeria Luiselli’s novel Die Schwerelosen (Los
ingrávidos).
About the book
Gustavo Sánchez has a mission: Every one of his ugly teeth must be replaced. Fortunately, he is an
auctionee –the world’s best auctioneer–which helps him in gathering the money needed for the new
teeth. In the process he discovers that providing the objects he auctions with a story is decisive. This
increases their value enormously. Nevertheless, he has a few more abilities that bring him money:
After two glasses of rum he can imitate Janis Joplin, interpret fortune cookies, stand a chicken’s egg
on the table like Christopher Columbus and imitate a dead man when swimming. However, his story
telling is a fine art. And his collection of teeth from famous people is impressive: from Plato to
Plutarch, Michel de Montaigne, Virginia Woolf and Enrique Vila-Matas. However, Sanchez has set his
sights on Marilyn Monroe’s ...
The jury on the nomination:
“On the basis of the dental history of the Mexican Gustavo Sanchez Sanchez, nickname Carretera
(motorway) the author demonstrates that, far from being a dogged affair, the presentation of
narrative principles can be a quite passionate. The reader can look forward to lively digressions
between philosophy, literary satire, essay, anecdote, and dental biography which Luiselli prepares in
closely-observed collaboration with employees of the Jumex juice factory in Mexico City. Translated
from the Spanish with great literary expertise and accomplishment by Dagmar Ploetz.”
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
Shumona Sinha | Lena Müller
Erschlagt die Armen!
French: Assommons les pauvres!
Edition Nautilus 2015 | Editions de l'Olivier, Paris 2011
About the author
Shumona Sinha, born in Calcutta in 1973, has lived in Paris since 2001 where she studied literature
at the Sorbonne. From 2001 to 2008 Sinha worked as a secondary school English teacher; from 2009
she herself worked as an interpreter for the French migration authority. Her first novel Fenêtre sur
l’Abîme appeared in 2008. Following the publication of Assommons les pauvres! in 2011, she lost her
job. Her third novel Calcutta, published in 2014, will be published in German translation in August
2016. Sinha has published numerous volumes of poetry in French and Bengali. Assommons les
pauvres! (German title: Erschlagt die Armen!) was awarded the 2012 Prix Valery-Larbaud and the
2011 Prix du roman populiste. It was also shortlisted for the Prix Renaudot and Prix Médicis.
About the translator
Lena Müller, born in 1982, studied creative writing and cultural journalism at the University of
Hildesheim and adult education and cultural mediation in Paris. She has been co-publisher and editor
of the French language magazine timult since 2009 and has worked as a freelance translator and
author since 2012. In 2013 she was awarded a scholarship from the Goldschmidt Program for young
literary translators. In 2015 she received a residential scholarship at the Europäisches ÜbersetzerKollegium in Straelen.
About the book
A young woman who works as an interpreter for the asylum authority in Paris smashes a wine bottle
over the head of a migrant in the subway. At the police station they encounter one another from the
other side of the interrogation table: What is the truth, what were the motives for the act? All
questions which she has to translate for the refugees–mainly men–on a daily basis while the answers
she translates for the case workers all sound the same, the fine nuances interpreted as signs of a
made up story or bitter reality. While no one in this bureaucratic machinery is allowed to be an
individual, every meeting is a grueling encounter. The first-person narrator is caught between the
fronts, between frustrated applicants and reluctant decision makers and can only escape this
confinement with candid words, blind rage and unbridled language.
The jury on the nomination:
“The diagnostic power of literature: The original novel was published in 2011 and is far more than a
commentary on the current situation. The author, who was born in Kolkata and has lived in Paris for
15 years, evokes a drama of inextricable entanglements in a furious, poetic and precise tirade.
Refugees appear with their inner distress and all their biographical disruptions alongside civil
servants of a determining authority with their inner detachment. The monolog of the first person
narrator – an interpreter in a French asylum determining authority – circumvents both a
paternalistic viewpoint and xenophobic paranoia. In her intermediary position in the no man’s land
of languages, categories and worldviews, she unyieldingly demonstrates what happens when the
truth does not fit into the given scheme. Lena Müller has powerfully conveyed Sinha’s harsh prose
into German with her unruly, poetic barbs that explore the effective power of language.”
Shumona Sinha and Lena Müller are the 2016 award winners.
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
THE SHORTLIST 2016
Ivan Vladislavić | Thomas Brückner
Double Negative
English: Double Negative
A1 Verlag 2015 | Umuzi, Kapstadt 2010
About the author
Ivan Vladislavić was born in Pretoria in 1957 and lives in Johannesburg. His books include the novels
The Restless Supermarket, The Exploded View and Double Negative, and the story collections 101
Detectives and Flashback Hotel. In 2006, he published Portrait with Keys, a sequence of documentary
texts on Johannesburg. He has edited books on architecture and art, and sometimes works with
artists and photographers. TJ/Double Negative, a joint project with photographer David Goldblatt,
received the 2011 Kraszna-Krausz Award for best photography book. His work has also won the
Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the Alan Paton Award, the University of Johannesburg Prize and Yale
University’s Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Creative
Writing Department at Wits University.
About the translator
Thomas Brückner, born in Görlitz in 1957, studied African studies, literature and cultural sciences.
He completed his doctorate and habilitated at the University of Leipzig, which was followed by guest
professorships in Germany and Sweden. Since 1994, he has worked as an author, publisher,
translator, cultural mediator, speaker and moderator, primarily in the field of the literature and
culture of the countries of the south. Amongst other things, Brückner has been a longstanding jury
member of the LiBeraturpreis initiative.
About the book
The young college dropout Neville Lister accompanies the famous photographer Saul Auerbach for a
day in Johannesburg in search of life lessons. They play a game: On a hill overlooking the city they
select three houses and decide to knock on their doors in search of a picture and a story. However,
the light quickly fades and only Auerbach’s pictures from the first two houses, which would later
become classic portraits, are completed. Only after an interlude of many years does Lister visit the
third house as he returns to post-apartheid South Africa and a completely altered Johannesburg. The
novel, arranged like a triptych, depicts 30 years of South African history in precise images and
sentences, arranged like a series of photographs that trace the changes in the social structures.
The jury on the nomination:
“In the multiple reflections of his novel Double Negative, the South African essayist and writer Ivan
Vladislavić succeeds in combining major themes from the history of civilization (racial segregation in
his home country) with moral and aesthetic issues (what is the truth of photography) to create a
profound narrative of the period during and after Apartheid. Following the first free elections, the
narrator - himself now a photographer – returns from London to observe the transformations. What
has really changed? Ivan Vladislavić stages his story without the slightest use of kitsch or
sentimentality, which elevates the book into a literary masterpiece, something further accentuated
by the excellent translation by Thomas Brückner.”
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
JURY OF 2016
Leila Chammaa (Translator, Expert in Islamic Studies)
Leila Chammaa, born in 1965, studied Islamic studies, Arabic language and literature and political
science at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since 1990, she has been translating Arabic prose and poetry
into German and has served as an advisor and consultant to publishers and other institutions in the
field of Arabic literature. In 2004 she was responsible for the coordination and dramaturgical
organization of the literary readings in the Arabic honorary guest program at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
In 2002, she founded the agency Alif, which aims to promote Arabic literature in German-speaking
regions. She also lectures Arabic for the German Foreign Office.
Michael Krüger (Author/Publisher)
Michael Krüger, born in 1943 in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and raised in Berlin, lives in Munich today.
For many years, he was the executive publisher at Carl Hanser Verlag in Munich, and for over three
decades has been the editor of the journal Akzente, the book series Edition Akzente, and the series
Lyrik Kabinett. Since the 1970s, his own published work has included novels, stories, essays, and
poetry, for which he has received the Peter-Huchel-Preis, the Mörike-Preis, the Joseph-BreitbachPreis, and the Prix Médicis étranger, among other awards. He is currently the president of the
Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and in spring 2015 will be a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu
Berlin.
Marko Martin (Author/Journalist)
Marko Martin, born in 1970, left East Germany in May 1989 for political reasons. He studied German,
history, and political science at the Technische Universität and Freie Universität in Berlin. After a long
residence in Paris, Martin returned to Berlin, where he lives when not traveling as a reporter. As a
journalist, he has contributed most notably to Die Welt, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Deutschlandradio,
Jüdische Allgemeine, and Internationale Politik. His most recent literary work includes the essay
collections Kosmos Tel Aviv (2012) and Treffpunkt '89 (2014), as well as the volumes of stories
Schlafende Hunde (2009) and Die Nacht von San Salvador (2013), both published by Die Andere
Bibliothek.
Sabine Peschel (Sinologist/Editor)
Sabine Peschel, born in 1955, studied Sinology and German language and literature in Tübingen. She
has lived in Taipei, worked as a university lecturer in Niigata, Japan and spent 15 years working as a
freelance project organizer and translator in Berlin. During that time, she had articles published on
China, began working for radio and presented numerous Chinese writers in Germany for the first
time. In 1999, Sabine Peschel went to work for Deutsche Welle in Cologne/Bonn as an editor. She
translates novels, essays and poetry from the contemporary Chinese literary scene.
Jörg Plath (Literary Critic / Arts Journalist)
Jörg Plath, born in 1960, first did an apprenticeship as a book seller and then went on to study recent
German literature, history and politics in Freiburg, Vienna and Berlin. In 1993, he received his
doctorate for a thesis on Franz Hessel. Since then he has worked as a freelance lector, ghostwriter and
literary editor. He now works as a literary critic for supra-regional media such as Deutschlandfunk and
Neue Zürcher Zeitung and as a literary editor for Deutschlandradio Kultur.
Iris Radisch (Literary Critic / Journalist)
Iris Radisch, born in 1959, is a German literary journalist and critic. She studied German language and
literature, Romance studies and philosophy in Tübingen and Frankfurt. Since 1990, she has worked as
literary editor for die Zeit, for which she is now features editor.
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
JURY OF 2016
In addition to visiting professorships in St. Louis, USA and Göttingen, she has also presented numerous
literature programs, including Bücher, Bücher (HR) and Literaturclub (3sat/ SF1). She became wellknown through her participation in the program Das literarische Quartett (2000-2001). From 1995 to
2000 she was a member of the jury for the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis; from 2003 to 2007 she was
chairwoman of said jury. In 2008, she was awarded the media prize for linguistic culture in the
category “press” by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache. In 2009 French culture minister Christine
Albanel named Radisch a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Her biography Camus – Das Ideal der
Einfachheit was published in 2013.
Sabine Scholl (Author/Essayist)
Sabine Scholl, born in 1959, studied German, history, and drama in Vienna and wrote her doctoral
dissertation on Unica Zürn. From 1988 to 1990, she was a lecturer at the University of Aveiro, Portugal.
She made her literary debut in 1992 with Fette Rosen. She has taught at universities in Chicago, New
York, and Nagoya and conceived the Sprachkunst course of study at the University of Applied Arts
Vienna, where she held a professorship from 2009 to 2012. She is currently on the faculty at the
Literaturinstitut Leipzig and Berlin University of the Arts, and directs the ERAschreibkurse (writing
courses) in Berlin. She has published novels, essays, audio dramas, and texts on art, and additionally
writes about the cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world, the US and Latin America, Japan, and
Eastern Europe. Sabine Scholl served as a juror for the 1996 Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis. Most
recently, she has published the novel Wir sind die Früchte des Zorns (2013) and Nicht ganz dicht: Zu
transnationalen Literaturen (2015). She has been honored with numerous awards and grants and is a
member of the Grazer Autorenversammlung and the literary advisory committee of Fiktion e.V.
The jury was nominated by an independent selection committee consisting of: Adelheid Feilcke
(head of the culture department at Deutsche Welle), Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (president of the
Goethe-Institut), Joachim Sartorius (poet, translator and former artistic director of the Berliner
Festspiele), Christina Weiss (publicist, professor), Jan Szlovak (chair of the Stiftung Elementarteilchen).
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
CHRONICLE: AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2009-2015
SHORTLIST 2009
Alarcón, Daniel: Lost City Radio
Wagenbach 2008, from the American by Friederike Meltendorf
Lost City Radio, HarperCollins 2007
Doulatabadi, Mahmud: Der Colonel
Unionsverlag 2009, from the Persian by Bahman Nirumand
Sawal-e Colonel, weltweite Erstveröffentlichung
Hage, Rawi: Als ob es kein Morgen gäbe
DuMont Verlag 2009, from the American by Gregor Hens
De Niro’s Game, Anansi Press 2006
Hemon, Aleksandar: Lazarus
Knaus Verlag 2009, from the American by Rudolf Hermstein
The Lazarus Project, Riverhead Books 2008
Kohan, Martín: Zweimal Juni
Suhrkamp Verlag 2009, from the Spanish by Peter Kultzen
Des veces junio, Editorial Sudamericana 2002
Mengestu, Dinaw: Zum Wiedersehen der Sterne
Claassen Verlag 2009, from the American by Volker Oldenburg
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, Riverhead Books 2007
Jury 2009: Christian Döring (Editor and Literary Critic), Prof. Dr. Ottmar Ette (Literary Scholar,
University of Potsdam), Sigrid Löffler (Literary critic, Moderator and Journalist), Katharina
Narbutovic (Director, DAAD Berlin Artists Program), Peter Ripken (Chairman International Cities
of Refuge Network / ICORN), Dr. Susanne Stemmler (Head of Literature at the Haus der Kulturen
der Welt), Jan Szlovak (Chairman, Stiftung Elementarteilchen)
SHORTLIST 2010
Glissant, Édouard: Das magnetische Land
Verlag Das Wunderhorn, 2010, from the French by Beate Thill
La terre magnétique, Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 2007
Khadra, Yasmina: Die Schuld des Tages an die Nacht
Ullstein Buchverlage, 2010, from the French by Regina Keil-Sagawe
Ce que le jour doit à la nuit, Editions Julliard, Paris, 2008
Li, Yiyun: Die Sterblichen
Carl Hanser Verlag, 2009, from the American by Anette Grube
The Vagrants, Random House, New York, 2009
Mandanipur, Shahriar: Eine iranische Liebesgeschichte zensieren
Unionsverlag, 2010, from the English by Ursula Ballin
Censoring an Iranian Love Story
ursprünglich in Farsi (unveröffentlicht), by Sarah Khalili, 2009
Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2009 (trademark of Random House Inc.)
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
CHRONICLE: AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2009-2015
Mengestu, Dinaw: Die Melodie der Luft
Ullstein Buchverlag, 2010, from the American by Volker Oldenburg
How to read the air, Riverhead, New York, 2010
Mueenuddin, Daniyal: Andere Räume, andere Träume
Suhrkamp/Insel, 2010, from the American by Brigitte Heinrich
In other rooms, other wonders, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2009
N’Diaye, Marie: Drei starke Frauen
Suhrkamp Verlag 2010, from the French by Claudia Kalscheuer
Trois Femmes Puissantes, Éditions Gallimard, 2009
Jury 2010: Christian Döring (Editor and Literary Critic), Gregor Dotzauer (Literary Critic, Der
Tagesspiegel), Prof. Dr. Ottmar Ette (Literary Scholar, University of Potsdam), Sigrid Löffler
(Literary critic, Moderator and Journalist), Katharina Narbutovic (Director, DAAD Berlin Artists
Program), Peter Ripken (Chairman International Cities of Refuge Network / ICORN), Dr. Susanne
Stemmler (Head of Literature at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt)
SHORTLIST 2011
Agualusa, José Eduardo: Barroco tropical
A1 Verlag 2011, from the Portuguese by Michael Kegler
Barocco Tropical, Publicações Dom Quixote, Lissabon 2009
Bator, Joanna:: Der Sandberg
Suhrkamp Verlag 2011, from the Polish by Esther Kinsky
Piaskowa Góra, Wydawnictwo, W.A.B., 2009
Danticat, Edwidge: Der verlorene Vater
Edition Büchergilde 2010, from the American by Susann Urban
The Dew Breaker, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2004
Énard, Mathias: Zone
Bloomsbury/ Berlin-Verlag 2010 , from the French by Holger Fock and Sabine Müller
Zone, Èditions Actes Sud, Arles 2008
Khoury, Elias: Yalo
Suhrkamp Verlag 2011, from the Arabic by Leila Chammaa
Yalo, Dâr al-Âdâb, Beirut, 2002
Schischkin, Michail: Venushaar
Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2011, from the Russian by Andreas Tretner
Venerin Volos, Vagrius, Moskau 2005
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
CHRONICLE: AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2009-2015
SHORTLIST 2012
Cabré, Jaume: Das Schweigen des Sammlers
Suhrkamp/Insel Verlag 2011, from the Catalan by Kirsten Brandt and Petra Zickmann
Jo confesso, Raval Edicions, Barcelona 2011
Cărtărescu, Mircea: Der Körper
Paul Zsolnay Verlag 2011, from the Romanian by Gerhardt Csejka und Ferdinand Leopold
Orbitor II. Corpul, Humanitas, Bukarest 2002
Gürsel, Nedim: Allahs Töchter
Suhrkamp Verlag 2012, from the Turkish by Barbara Yurtdas
Allah’ ιn Kιzlarι, Dogan Kitap, Istanbul 2008
McCarthy, Tom: K
Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2012, from the English by Bernhard Robben
C, Jonathan Cape, London 2010
Nádas, Péter: Parallelgeschichten
Rowohlt Verlag 2012, from the Hungarian by Christina Viragh
Párhuzamos történetek, Jelenkor Kiadó, Pécs 2005
Obreht, Téa: Die Tigerfrau
Rowohlt Berlin Verlag 2012, from the English by Bettina Abarbanell
The Tiger’s Wife, Random House, New York 2011
Jury 2012: Egon Ammann (Publisher), Hans Christoph Buch (Writer), Kersten Knipp (Cultural
Journalist/ Literary Critic), Marie Luise Knott (Critic / Translator), Claudia Kramatschek (Literary
Critic / Arts Journalist), Ricarda Otte (Editor, Culture & Arts Department, Deutsche Welle Berlin),
Ilma Rakusa (Writer/ Translator/ Journalist)
SHORTLIST 2013
Bitow, Andrej: Der Symmetrielehrer
Suhrkamp Verlag 2012, from the Russian by Rosemarie Tietze
Prepodavatel’ simmetrii. Roman-ėcho, Fortuna Ėl, Moskau 2008
Cole, Teju: Open City
Suhrkamp Verlag 2012, from the English by Christine Richter-Nilsson
Open City, Random House, New York 2011
Jones, Lloyd: Die Frau im blauen Mantel
Rowohlt Verlag 2012, from the English by Grete Osterwald
Hand me down world, Text Publishing, Melbourne 2010
Luiselli, Valeria: Die Schwerelosen
Verlag Antje Kunstmann 2013, from the Spanish by Dagmar Ploetz
Los Ingrávidos, Editorial Sexto Piso, Mexico 2011
Prilepin, Zakhar: Sankya
Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2012, from the Russian by Erich Klein und Susanne Macht
Sankya, Ad Marginem Press, Moskau 2006
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
CHRONICLE: AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2009-2015
Rolin, Jean: Einen toten Hund ihm nach
Berlin Verlag 2012, from the French by Holger Fock und Sabine Müller
Un chien mort après lui, P.O.L éditeur, Paris 2009
Jury 2013: Egon Ammann (Publisher), Hans Christoph Buch (Writer), Kersten Knipp (Cultural
Journalist/ Literary Critic), Marie Luise Knott (Critic / Translator), Claudia Kramatschek (Literary
Critic / Arts Journalist), Ricarda Otte (Editor, Culture & Arts Department, Deutsche Welle Berlin),
Ilma Rakusa (Writer/ Translator/ Journalist)
SHORTLIST 2014
Zsófia Bán: Als nur die Tiere lebten
Suhrkamp Verlag 2014, German translation from the Hungarian by Terézia Mora
Amikor még csak az állatok éltek; Magvető, Budapest 2012
Georgi Gospodinov: Physik der Schwermut
Literaturverlag Droschl 2014, German translation from the Bulgarian by Alexander Sitzmann
Fizika na tagata; Janet 45 2012
Mohsin Hamid: So wirst du stinkreich im boomenden Asien
DuMont Buchverlag 2013, German translation from the English by Eike Schönfeld
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia; Riverhead Books 2013
Bernardo Kucinski: K. oder Die verschwundene Tochter
Transit Buchverlag 2013, German translation from the Portuguese by Sarita Brandt
K.; Expressão Popular 2012
Dany Laferrière: Das Rätsel der Rückkehr
Verlag das Wunderhorn 2013, German translation from the French by Beate Thill
L'énigme du retour; Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 2009/Les Éditions du Boréal, Montréal 2009
Madeleine Thien: Flüchtige Seelen
Luchterhand Literaturverlag 2014, German translation from the English by Almuth Carstens
Dogs at the Perimeter; McClelland & Stewart, Toronto 2011
Jury 2014: Egon Ammann (Publisher), Hans Christoph Buch (Writer), Leila Chammaa
(Translator/Expert in Islamic Studies), Kersten Knipp (Cultural Journalist/ Literary Critic), Sabine
Peschel (Sinologist/Translator/Editor), Jörg Plath (Literary Critic/Cultural Journalist), Iris Radisch
(Literary Critic/Journalist)
SHORTLIST 2015
NoViolet Bulawayo | Miriam Mandelkow
Wir brauchen neue Namen
English: We Need New Names
Suhrkamp Verlag 2014 | Little, Brown and Company, New York 2013
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
CHRONICLE: AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2009-2015
Patrick Chamoiseau | Beate Thill
Die Spur des Anderen
French: L'empreinte à Crusoé
Verlag Das Wunderhorn 2014 | Éditions Gallimard, Paris 2012
Daša Drndić | Brigitte Döbert & Blanka Stipetić
Sonnenschein
Croatian: Sonnenschein
Hoffmann und Campe 2015 | Fraktura, Zaprešić 2007
Gilbert Gatore | Katja Meintel
Das lärmende Schweigen
French: Le Passé devant soi
Horlemann Verlag 2014 | Phébus, Paris 2008
Amos Oz | Mirjam Pressler
Judas
Hebrew: Habesora al pi Jehuda
Suhrkamp Verlag 2015 | Keter, Jerusalem 2014
Krisztina Tóth | György Buda
Aquarium
Hungarian: Akvárium
Nischen Verlag 2015 | Magvető Kiadó, Budapest 2013
Jury 2016: Leila Chammaa (translator and Islamic scholar), Michael Krüger (author and former
publisher), Marko Martin (writer and publicist), Sabine Peschel (sinologist and editor), Jörg Plath
(literary critic and cultural journalist), Iris Radisch (literary critic and journalist), and the Sabine
Scholl (writer and essayist).
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
AWARD, FOUNDATION, AND PARTNERS
Internationaler Literaturpreis – Haus der Kulturen der Welt
For the eighth time Haus der Kulturen der Welt, together with Stiftung Elementarteilchen, confers in
2016 the Internationaler Literaturpreis – Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
The Internationaler Literaturpreis has been awarded annually since 2009. The highly remunerated
award (with prize money of €20,000 for the author and €15,000 for the translator) honors an
outstanding work of contemporary international literature that has been translated into German for
the first time. The award thus acknowledges the work of both the author and the translator.
Since 2013, the award ceremony has also become a festival of literatures. The Celebration of the
Shortlist focuses on the multi-faceted narrative spectrum of the entire shortlist. It is about opening
the boundaries of the literary canon and about the ability of stories and translations to expand social,
fictional and linguistic horizons. A polyglot literary “parcours” of readings and talks will present all six
of the shortlisted titles by the nominated authors and translators in both languages. The nominees and
jury will discuss current topics of contemporary literary storytelling and translating in transnational
and international spheres, literary motives and approaches to the world as well as their use of
workings with words and language.
The Stiftung Elementarteilchen
The Stiftung Elementarteilchen, Hamburg, was founded by Jan Szlovak (Chairman) in 2007. The
foundation supports nonprofit organizations and projects in the Hamburg area and beyond that work
for climate and environmental protection, ending female genital mutilation, the clearance of
landmines, and other causes. In 2009, the Stiftung Elementarteilchen joined with Haus der Kulturen
der Welt to institute the International Literature Award - Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Borne by a
common interest in the promotion of international literatures and their translation, the award has
since been conferred annually with substantial financial support from the foundation.
Other Partners 2016
In cooperation with the Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer literarischer und wissenschaftlicher
Werke (VdÜ), the Kurt Wolff Stiftung (KWS), the Literaturinstitut of the University of Hildesheim,
Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (Landesverband Berlin-Brandenburg) e.V. as well as the
graduate Literature and Practical Media Studies program at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the
ocelot bookstore, presented by Deutsche Welle, Radio FluxFM, the journal BuchMarkt, the journal
Literarischer Monat, the writer and artist network Faust-Kultur and the literature podcast Litradio.
With kind support from the Embassy of Sweden in Berlin.
Haus der Kulturen der Welt is funded by the German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media
and the German Foreign Ministry.
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
ILP ON BLOG, MEDIA MATERIAL
ILP on blog
Since 2014, the International Literature Award is accompanied by a weblog, providing a space of
reverberations, commenting and reflecting the award developments in multimedia formats; it is a
forum to all participating voices, authors, translators and further participants, exploring texts, and
working with and on the archive as well as on the latest events of the award year.
ILP on blog is operated by annually changing editorial teams, consisting of students from applied
literary studies. In 2016 students of the Cultural Journalism Department at the University Hildesheim
and editors from the University of Duisburg-Essen write under the direction of Lara Sielmann and
Jacob Teich.
Social-Reading-Group: Under the hashtag #ilp16, the social reading group for the 2016 Shortlist
shared their personal reading impressions. A book a week they commented on their reading
impressions, quoted memorable sentences and tracked recurrent subjects and motifs. A summary of
tweets on each book is given on Facebook. At the Celebration of the Shortlist the social reading group
will take stock: What questions arose among them while reading? What answers can the authors and
translators contribute?
www.ilp-onblog.de
Media Material
Photos of the Celebration of the Shortlist & Award Ceremony will be available as of June 27:
www.hkw.de/pressphotos
More images available for download: www.hkw.de/pressphotos
Further images upon request at [email protected]
Press kit available for download: www.hkw.de/press
Further information: www.hkw.de/literatureaward
Blog, Multimedia offerings, interviews, and live documentation of the Award Ceremony and the
Celebration of the Shortlist, as well as Social-Reading-Group: www.ilp-onblog.de
Facebook www.facebook.com/Internationalerliteraturpreis_hkw.de
Twitter
www.twitter.com/ILP_Berlin #ilp16
Press contact: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Anne Maier, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Fon +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de
Press Release
June 25, 2016, 3 pm
Der Frosch im Kleid und die Wespe im gestreiften Badeanzug
A polyglot reading picnic for kids with Leila Chammaa und Kathrin Janka
Kids&Teens-Workshop monolingual and multilingual children, ages 8-12 from
Registration: [email protected]
Participation Fee: 5 €
Meeting Point: At the stairs on the riverside at HKW
Berlin, June 16, 2016
A polyglot reading picnic for kids: Why is the frog wearing a dress? Why does Marcelka the wasp need
an umbrella?
Based on contemporary children’s books translated into German, the literary translators Leila
Chammaa and Kathrin Janka invite kids on an expedition to the world of languages and translation. In
a playful way, they will explore and translate the words, sounds, meanings and imagery of various
languages.
The Kids&Teens-Workshop at 3 pm enriches and completes the program of the Celebration of the
Shortlist & Award Ceremony of the Internationale Literaturpreis on Saturday, June 25, at HKW.
Leila Chammaa
(Translator, Expert in Islamic Studies)
Leila Chammaa, born in 1965, read Islamic studies, Arabic language and literature and political science
at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since 1990, she has been translating Arabic prose and poetry into
German and has served as an advisor and consultant to publishers and other institutions in the field of
Arabic literature. In 2004 she was responsible for the coordination and dramaturgical organization of
the literary readings in the Arabic honorary guest program at the Frankfurt Book Fair. In 2002, she
founded the agency “Alif”, which aims to promote Arabic literature in German-speaking regions. She
also lectures Arabic for the German Foreign Office.
More information at www.hkw.de/literatureaward
Facebook www.facebook.com/internationalerliteraturpreis
Twitter twitter.com/ILP_Berlin
Blog www.ilp-onblog.de
Haus der Kulturen der Welt is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as by
the Federal Foreign Office.
Press Officer: Anne Maier, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin,
Phone +49 30 397 87-153, Fax +49 30 3948679, [email protected], www.hkw.de