German author Ursula Krechel has been awarded the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize for 2024, the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung announced on Tuesday. The prize, which carries a monetary award of €50,000, recognizes Krechel’s significant contribution to German literature.
The jury lauded Krechel as an author whose diverse body of work-spanning poetry, plays, radio dramas, novels and essays-directly confronts the repercussions of German history and the complexities of contemporary society. Her lyrical work is characterized by a critical examination of language and a probing exploration of everyday experiences, societal structures and individual hopes.
The committee emphasized a recurring theme of female authorship, resilience and the rediscovery of voice throughout Krechel’s oeuvre, particularly evident in her essays where she fosters dialogue between German-language literature and international modern aesthetics. Krechel’s work, according to the academy, encourages readers to identify the lingering traces of the past within present-day life and to critically engage with the realities of German society.
The Georg Büchner Prize ceremony is scheduled to take place in Darmstadt on November 1st and is widely considered the most distinguished literary award in the German-speaking world.