Lena Schätte Wins Ingeborg Bachmann Prize

Lena Schätte, an author from Germany, has been awarded the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize at the 50th Days of German-Language Literature held in Klagenfurt, Austria. The jury announced her win on Sunday, recognizing her text "Was wir tragen" (What We Wear) from a field of 13 competitors.

Schätte, 32, from North Rhine-Westphalia, not only claimed the main prize but also the audience award. Her winning entry compellingly and starkly portrays the friendship between two overweight schoolgirls who face life as social outsiders. Juror Thomas Strässle lauded the text for its "existential force," noting Schätte's skillful handling of exclusion without resorting to blame or preaching.

“

It is a fever dream.

"It is a fever dream," Schätte stated in her initial reaction to the victory. Previously, Schätte's novel "Das Schwarz an den Händen meines Vaters" (The Black on My Father's Hands) was longlisted for the German Book Prize in the previous year. She hails from Lüdenscheid and resides in Altena, having transitioned to studying at the German Literature Institute Leipzig in 2020 after working as a psychiatric nurse.

Hungarian poet and performance artist Kinga Toth received the Kelag Prize, valued at 15,000 Euros, for her musical text "OstblockMädl." This work delves into themes of labor migration, identity, and language. The Bachmann Prize competition, established in 1977, honors the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann and has previously recognized prominent writers such as Sten Nadolny, Sibylle Lewitscharoff, Uwe Tellkamp, and Helga Schubert.

“

The text has existential force.