Gay Bookstore Literature Prize
The Literature Prize of gay bookstores (also gay literary award ) was an initiative to promote German- gay literature . It was awarded mostly every two years from 1993 to 2004.
Conception
The Gay Bookstore Literature Prize was awarded by the Association of Gay Bookstores in Germany , organized by the bookstores Eisenherz (Berlin), Männerschwarm (Hamburg), Erlkönig (Stuttgart) and Max & Milian (Munich), and at times also Männertreu (Nuremberg), Oscar Wilde (Frankfurt / Main) and Ganymed (Cologne). When the award was initiated in the early 1990s, there was little original German-language gay literature; the gay bookstores' offerings consisted almost exclusively of translations of foreign-language literature, especially American literature. In 1997 Thomas Ott, owner of the Erlkönig bookstore, wrote :
“ The gay bookstores are finding that gay literature is still niche in the German language: there are a few 'established authors' whose homosexuality is viewed as secondary, and a few 'gay writers' whose works are outside the gay community The publishing and literary scene are practically not noticed. [...]
In the best case, ... [the literature prize] should have a threefold effect: The authors should find out that there is an interest in writing texts not just for the drawer, but for an audience. The audience - primarily the gay reader - should learn that there are more German-language gay texts - and authors - than the current book market reflects. And last but not least, the non-gay publishing, literature and reading scene should also learn that 'gay literature' is much more than the self-reflection of a 'minority'. "
The situation of German-language gay literature has changed fundamentally since then. Some of the authors who submitted entries to the competitions have become established gay or lesbian writers - Marcus Brühl , Markus Dullin , Karen-Susan Fessel , Peter Hofmann and others. a. -; on the other hand, gay literature, which was still very manageable in 1997, was inundated by a flood of commercially oriented books in the years that followed, as was non-gay literature. Under these circumstances the conception of the gay literature prize lost its meaning. After the 2004 competition, the organizers announced a “pause for reflection” in order to adapt the prize to the changed social and political situation of gays and lesbians. No continuation is planned in the previous form. The Hamburg bookstore Männerschwarm subsequently deleted an information page on the gay literature award from its website.
Offer of a reward
Unpublished prose texts in German that dealt with aspects of the life of gay men were permitted. Only for the last competition in 2004 was there a motto ( “Texts of Lust: Bringing the Body into Play” - on the occasion of the award ceremony for the Eurogames ). An editing team of three people or couples nominated three contributions from the submissions, which were then read publicly by their authors in a final round. The prize, endowed with 1000 € (previously 2000 DM) and the assurance that the text would be published, was awarded by a jury made up of booksellers from the gay bookstores involved. After each competition, an anthology was published by MännerschwarmSkript (today Männerschwarm Verlag ) that contained the texts nominated for the final round as well as a further selection from the entries. Unpublished manuscripts that were not requested back by the author were handed over to the archive of the Schwules Museum in Berlin.
The individual competitions
| year | Attendees | Editors | Place of the final round | Award winners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Axel shock |
Günter M. Ziegler : Fragments of a Legend |
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| 1996 | 81 | Michael Hofmann, Elmar Kraushaar , Dietmar Thom ( Thom Verlag ) |
Boccaccio backyard theater (Leipzig) | Arn Aske: Stanislaw |
| 1998 | Everhard Hofsümmer: Hildegard! Cancellation! |
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| 2000 | Rainer Falk ( Querverlag ) Matthias Frings Hans Stempel and Martin Ripkens |
Felix Dörstelmann: American Love Story |
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| 2002 | 156 |
Michael Merschmeier Tetta Müller and Lo Malinke (from the music cabaret group Malediva ) Rüdiger Lautmann |
Kulturbrauerei (Berlin) |
Holger Siemann : Miss Michael is going out |
| 2004 | 114 (a quarter of them women) |
Tim Sonderhüsken (editor at Knaur-Verlag ) Philipp Tingler Matthias Kuhn (Munich journalist) |
Gunther Geltinger : Life, 200 meters |
The anthologies
All books are published by the MännerschwarmSkript publishing house. The year is the year of publication.
| year | editor | Title / ISBN | Posts by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Joachim Bartholomae |
The angels are real ISBN 3-928983-25-3 . |
13 texts, u. a. by Peter Hofmann (nominated), Peter Tschiche (nominated), Walter Ott |
| 1997 | Thomas Ott |
once it was nice ISBN 3-928983-48-2 |
14 stories by Arn Aske (winner), Klaus Berndl (nominated: The Panther in the Clock ), Hubert Fink (nominated: Night Watch ), Carl von Belmod, Pil Crauer, Karen-Susan Fessel u. a. |
| 1999 | Joachim Bartholomae |
Hildegard! Cancellation! ISBN 3-928983-66-0 . |
14 texts, u. a. by Markus Dullin (nominated) |
| 2001 | Joachim Bartholomae |
American Love Story ISBN 3-928983-93-8 |
14 texts by Felix Dörstelmann (winner), Jörg Urlaub ( nominated: Kreuz des Südens or Cruzeiro do Sul ), Johannes Lindhorst (nominated: The builders of tomorrow's city ), Markus Dullin, Arthur Knebel, Pyter Carlem, Peter Rehberg , Matthias Ordolff , Jan Battista, Stephan Franck, Klaus-Dieter Diedrich , Albert Ztrebla, Klaus Mattes and Klaus Berndl |
| 2003 | Axel shock |
The handsome man is dead ISBN 3-935596-19-7 |
15 texts by Holger Siemann (winner), Stefan Pokroppa (nominated: Silberblick ), Peter Nathschläger , Marco Martin, Daniel Klaus , Karl Kilian, Marcus Brühl , Stefan Blome, Thorsten Wiesner, Corinna Waffender , Jörg Krohmer, David Mitzenheim, Albrecht Piper, Johan Peter and Taddeus Schmidt; (Stefan Freund with night train was also nominated ) |
| 2005 | Thomas Ott |
In Paradise ISBN 3-935596-73-1 |
13 texts by Gunther Geltinger (winner), Cordula Scheifele (nominated: A touch of Kashmir ), Eric Hegmann (nominated: Heldenfrühstück ), Gert Weihsmann, Thomas Kindermann, Jörg Ferien, Maria Fangerau , Lukas Sommer, Corinna Waffender, Christian Lütjens, Gregorio Ortega Coto, Gunter Gerlach and Paul Kremp |
Remarks
- ↑ Thomas Ott (Ed.): Once upon a time it was beautiful . Stories (submissions to the gay bookstore literary award). MännerschwarmSkript Verlag (Erlkönig edition), Hamburg 1997. p. 184