German Prize for Nature Writing
The German Prize for Nature Writing is a literary prize for highly nature-related, German-language literary publications that has been awarded annually since 2017 by the publishing house Matthes & Seitz Berlin and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
The German Prize for Nature Writing , endowed with 10,000 euros , is awarded in conjunction with a residence grant for the island of Vilm near Rügen . Over a period of one year, the awardee is given a six-week stay on the island, where the BfN branch with the International Nature Conservation Academy is located.
In cooperation with the Bavarian Academy of Writing and the Nantesbuch Foundation , three grants were awarded for the first time in 2019 for seminars and writing workshops on the subject of nature writing: The winners are Sophia Klink , Linn Penelope Micklitz and Anna Ospelt .
Sense and purpose
With the German Prize for Nature Writing, the founders would like to honor authors who refer to nature in their literary work. The prize ties in with the literary tradition of nature writing, which is particularly strong in the USA and Great Britain . The authors of this literary school deal with the perception of nature, with the practical handling of the natural, with the reflection on the relationship between nature and culture and with the history of human appropriation of nature. Across all genres, essays as well as lyrical and epic writing should be considered. The thematization of "nature" includes the dialectics of external and internal nature as well as the dissolution of the boundaries between culture and nature, but also the possibilities or problems of protecting natural phenomena and natural occurrences.
The winners
| year | Prize winner | jury | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Marion Poschmann | Judith Schalansky , Jan Wagner , Ludwig Fischer , Brigitte Labs-Ehlert | The jury particularly appreciates the extraordinarily precise images of nature and the subtle poetic evocations of a penetration of unauthorized nature and human cultural activity in the poetry of the author, as well as the clear poetological reflections on the ›ciphering of nature‹ in the literary, as presented in the latest volume of essays |
| 2018 | Sabine Scho ; Christian Lehnert | Judith Schalansky , Marion Poschmann , Ludwig Fischer , Brigitte Labs-Ehlert , Steffen Richter | Sabine Scho "with her repeatedly experimental artistic projects stands for a development of contemporary nature poetry, which is rare in the German-speaking world." On Lehnert: "The conciseness and evocative power of the individual images of nature are just as impressive as the sovereign use of the ode form, with which the diverse is captured and the incomprehensible made tangible." |
| 2019 | Daniela Danz ; Martina Kieninger | Judith Schalansky , Sabine Scho , Ludwig Fischer , Brigitte Labs-Ehlert , Steffen Richter | Daniela Danz '"Descriptions of the deserted edges of the world in the middle of Europe ask in pictures from the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms what happens when people perish because of their progress." Martina Kieninger says: "In a skilful setting of black humor and scientific knowledge, she poses the question of the nature of man and his bestial part in the recent, National Socialist past." |
| 2020 | Ulrike Draesner ; Esther Kinsky | Daniela Danz , Martina Kieninger , Ludwig Fischer , Annette Kinitz , Brigitte Labs-Ehlert , Steffen Richter | Ulrike Draesner "definitely crosses genre or genre boundaries: elements of essay, report, theory, autobiographical notation, poem are interwoven." Esther Kinsky says that she "devotes her attention to the terrain in many books and points to dynamism and complexity, persistence and change, the interrelationship between human advance and natural resistance. In doing so, she creates a new terrain." |
Web links
Matthes & Seitz Berlin (official website of the literary prize)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur from January 10, 2017: First prize for Nature Writing to Marion Poschmann
- ↑ Kulturradio from January 10, 2017: Prize for Nature Writing awarded to Marion Poschmann for the first time
- ↑ BZ of January 10, 2017: Marion Poschmann receives Berlin Literature Prize
- ^ Die Welt from January 10, 2017: First prize for Nature Writing to Marion Poschmann
- ↑ Focus from January 10, 2017: First prize for Nature Writing to Marion Poschmann
- ↑ Book journal from January 10, 2017: German Prize for Nature Writin - Marion Poschmann first winner
- ↑ Börsenblatt from January 10, 2017: German Prize for Nature Writing - Marion Poschmann first winner
- ^ Sabine Scho and Christian Lehnert honored , Börsenblatt dated July 13, 2018, accessed July 13, 2018
- ↑ Danz and Kieninger awards , Börsenblatt dated August 22, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019
- ↑ German Prize for Nature Writing , Börsenblatt dated August 17, 2020, accessed August 17, 2020