Swiss literary prizes

The Swiss Literature Prizes , initially also known as the Federal Literature Prizes, are literary prizes that have been awarded annually by the Federal Office of Culture (BAK) since 2012 . They honor individual outstanding works from an applicant list of Swiss authors or authors who live in Switzerland. On the recommendation of the Federal Jury for Literature, the Swiss Grand Prix for Literature is also awarded for a complete work or a unique commitment to Swiss literature, as well as a special translation award, alternating with a special mediation award.

history

Since the Culture Promotion Act came into force in 2012, the federal government has been awarding other cultural awards as well as literary awards. The Federal Office of Culture is responsible for organizing the Swiss literary prizes. The Swiss literary prizes replaced the Schiller prizes, which were awarded for the last time in spring 2012. On February 19, 2015, the various prizes were awarded for the first time on a single occasion in the Swiss National Library . While the winners of the “small” literary prizes had been determined in advance, Federal Councilor Alain Berset did not announce the name of the winner of the Grand Prix Literature until the evening of the award ceremony.

Funding policy

Five to seven Swiss literary prizes and one to two Swiss Grand Prix for literature are to be awarded annually. In addition, every two years there is a special price for translation alternating with the special price for mediation .

The Swiss Literature Prizes are awarded to literary works published in the previous year in one of the four national languages or a Swiss dialect . The award-winning authors will each receive CHF 25,000 and benefit from funding measures that are intended to make them known at national level.

The Swiss Grand Prix for Literature (still called the “Swiss Literature Prize” in 2013), endowed with 40,000 francs, is intended to honor a life's work or - according to the BAK website - “to be a personality who is uniquely committed to Swiss literature this in mediation, publishing, production, literary criticism, cultural policy or teaching and research ».

The special prize for literary communication and translation is also endowed with 40,000 francs.

jury

• Ruth Gantert , head of the trilingual literary magazine Viceversa (President)
• Roman Caviezel , high school teacher
• Jean Kaempfer , professor, University of Lausanne
• Matthias Lorenz , Professor, Stellenbosch University
• Anne Pitteloud , journalist and critic
• Arno Renken , lecturer in literature at the Bern University of the Arts, HKB
• Niccolò Scaffai , lecturer and literary critic
• Tabea Steiner , organizer and author
• Prisca Wirz-Costantini , bookseller

Former jury members:

• Marie Caffari , Head of the Swiss Literature Institute (2012–2016)
• Bernard Comment , writer and publisher (2012-2014)
• Pietro De Marchi , Associate Professor, University of Zurich (2012–2018)
• Urs Engeler , publisher (2012–2013)
• Marion Graf , literary critic (2012-2017)
• Christian Haller , writer (2014-2016)
• Dominik Müller , Lecturer and Research Associate, University of Geneva (President, 2012–2017)
• Clà Riatsch , Professor, University of Zurich (2012–2014)
• Daniel Rothenbühler , lecturer at the Swiss Literature Institute (2012–2018)
• Eléonore Sulser , literary editor (2014–2018)
• Barbara Villiger Heilig , editor in the features section of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (2012–2014)

Award winners

2020

• Flurina Badel : tinnitus tropic . editionmevinapuorger, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-9524584-7-1 .
• François Debluë : La Seconde mort de Lazare . L'Âge d'Homme, Lausanne 2019, ISBN 978-2-8251-4771-9 .
• Doris Femminis : Fuori per semper . Marcos y Marcos, Milano 2019, ISBN 978-88-7168-853-4 .
• Christoph Geiser : Missing places. Narratives . Secession, Zurich, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-906910-51-2 .
• Pascal Janovjak : Le zoo de Rome . Actes Sud, Arles 2019, ISBN 978-2-330-12082-5 .
• Noëmi Lerch : Welcome to the valley of tears . Verlag die brotsuppe, Biel 2019, ISBN 978-3-03867-015-5 .
• Demian Lienhard : I am the one my mother warned me about . Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 2019, ISBN 978-3-627-00260-2 .

Sibylle Berg received the "Grand Prix Literature" and Marion Graf the special translation award .

2019

• Elisa Shua Dusapin : Les Billes du Pachinko . Editions Zoé, Geneva 2018, ISBN 978-2-88927-579-3 .
• Alexandre Hmine : La chiave nel latte . Gabriele Capelli editore, Mendrisio 2018, ISBN 978-88-9730864-5 .
• Julia von Lucadou : The high-rise jumper . Hanser, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-446-26039-9 .
• Anna Ruchat : Gli anni di Nettuno sulla terra . Ibis, Como 2018, ISBN 978-88-7164571-1 .
• Patrick Savolainen : Farantheiner . Verlag die brotsuppe, Biel 2018, ISBN 978-3-03867-007-0 .
• José-Flore Tappy : Trás-os-Montes . La Dogana, Geneva 2018, ISBN 978-2-940055-86-9 .
• Christina Viragh : One of those nights . Dörlemann, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-03820-056-7 .

The “Grand Prix Literature” goes to Zsuzsanna Gahse ; The Center de traduction littéraire at the University of Lausanne (Faculty of Philosophy) and the Translation House Looren share the special mediation prize .

2018

• Fabiano Alborghetti : Maiser . Marcos y Marcos, Milano 2017, ISBN 978-88-7168-793-3 .
• Dumenic Andry : sablun . Chasa Editura Rumantscha, Chur 2017, ISBN 978-3-03845-047-4 .
• Michael Fehr : Shine and shadow . The healthy shipping of people, Lucerne 2017, ISBN 978-3-03853-039-8 .
• Baptiste Gaillard : Un domaine de corpuscules . Hippocampe éditions, Lyon 2017, ISBN 979-10-96911-02-8 .
• Yael Inokai : maelstrom . Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-85869-760-8 .
• Friederike Kretzen : School of Indian drivers . Stroemfeld Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and Basel 2017, ISBN 978-3-86600-272-2 .
• Jérôme Meizoz : Faire le garçon . Editions Zoé, Geneva 2017, ISBN 978-2-88927-391-1 .

Anna Felder was awarded the "Grand Prix Literature" ; Yla von Dach received the special translation award .

2017

• Laurence Boissier : Inventaire des lieux . Art & fiction, Geneva 2015, ISBN 978-2-940570-02-7 .
• Ernst Burren : Dr Chlaueputzer drinks nume orangschina . Cosmos, Muri bei Bern 2016, ISBN 978-3-305-00418-8 .
• Annette Hug : Wilhelm Tell in Manila . Das Wunderhorn, Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-884-23518-8 .
• Michel Layaz : Louis Soutter, probablement . Editions Zoé, Geneva 2016, ISBN 978-2-88927-342-3 .
• Jens Nielsen : Hippopotamus in the women's pool . The healthy shipping of people, Lucerne 2016, ISBN 978-3-03853-018-3 .
• Philippe Rahmy : Allegra . Editions La Table Ronde, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-7103-7856-3 .
• Dieter Zwicky : Hihi - my Argentinian father . edition pudelundpinscher, Wädenswil 2016, ISBN 978-3-906061-09-2 .

Pascale Kramer received the "Grand Prix Literature"; Charles Linsmayer was honored with the special mediation award.

2016

• Giovanni Fontana: Breve pazienza di ritrovarti . Interlinea, Novara 2015, ISBN 978-88-6857-029-3 .
• Massimo Gezzi : Il numero dei vivi . Donzelli. Rome 2015, ISBN 978-88-6843-186-0 .
• Yves Laplace : Plaine des héros . Fayard, Paris 2015, ISBN 978-2-213-68591-5 .
• Antoinette Rychner : Le prix . Buchet-Chastel, Paris 2015, ISBN 978-2-283-02841-4 .
• Ruth Schweikert : How we get older . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-10-002263-9 .
• Monique Schwitter : One in the other . Droschl, Graz 2015, ISBN 978-3-85420-969-0 .
• Leta Semadeni : Tamangur . Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-85869-641-0 .

Alberto Nessi received the "Grand Prix Literature" ; Hartmut Fähndrich was awarded the special translation prize.

2015

• Dorothee Elmiger : Sleepers . Novel. DuMont, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-8321-9742-1 .
• Eleonore Frey : On the way to Okhotsk . Engeler, Solothurn 2014, ISBN 978-3-906050-07-2 .
• Hanna Johansen : The autumn in which I learned to play the piano . Dörlemann, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-03820-011-6 .
• Guy Krneta : Unger üs. Family album . The healthy shipping of people, Lucerne 2014, ISBN 978-3-905825-90-9 .
• Frédéric Pajak : Manifeste incertain 3. La mort de Walter Benjamin . Ezra Pound mis en cage . Noir sur Blanc, Lausanne 2014, ISBN 978-2-88250-353-4 .
• Claudia Quadri : Suona, Nora Blume . Casagrande, Bellinzona 2013, ISBN 978-88-7713-629-9 .
• Noëlle Revaz : L'infini livre . Zoé, Geneva 2014, ISBN 978-2-88182-925-3 .
  • Übers. Ralf Pannowitsch: The Infinite Book. Wallstein, Göttingen 2017.

The "Grand Prix Literature" went to Adolf Muschg , the special prize was awarded to the literary education project "Roman des Romands".

2014

• Urs Allemann : In sepps welt. Poems and things like that. Klever, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902665-55-3 .
• David Bosc : La claire fontaine. Verdier, Lagrasse 2013, ISBN 978-2-86432-726-4 .
• Roland Buti : Le Milieu de l'horizon. Zoé, Geneva 2013, ISBN 978-2-88182-894-2 .
• Rose-Marie Pagnard : J'aime ce qui vacille. Zoé, Geneva 2013, ISBN 978-2-88182-883-6 .
• Matteo Terzaghi : Ufficio proiezioni luminose. Quodlibet, Macerata 2013, ISBN 978-88-7462-536-9 .
• Urs Widmer : Journey to the edge of the universe. Diogenes, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-257-06868-9 .
• Vera Schindler-Wunderlich : This is an outdoor space. Poems. Edition pudelundpinscher, Erstfeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-906061-00-9 .

The “Grand Prix Literature” was awarded to Philippe Jaccottet and Paul Nizon together, Christoph Ferber received the special prize for translation.

2013

• Irena Brežná : The ungrateful stranger . Galiani, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86971-052-5 .
• Arno Camenisch : Ustrinkata . Engeler, Solothurn 2012, ISBN 978-3-033-03028-2 .
• Massimo Daviddi : Il silenzio degli operai . La vita felice, Milano 2012, ISBN 978-88-7799-475-2 .
• Thilo Krause : And that's all enough . Poetenladen, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-940691-39-2 .
• Marius Daniel Popescu : Les Couleurs de l'hirondelle . Corti, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-7143-1072-9 .
• Catherine Safonoff : Le mineur et le canari . Editions Zoé, Geneva 2012, ISBN 978-2-88182-872-0 .
• Frédéric Wandelère : La Compagnie capricieuse . La Dogana, Geneva 2012, ISBN 978-2-940055-71-5 .
• Matthias Zschokke : The man with two eyes . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1111-4 .

(The winners were originally listed as winners of the "Federal Literature Awards 2012".)

The “Swiss Literature Prize” went to the Babel Festival as well as Jean-Marc Lovay , Erica Pedretti and Fabio Pusterla .

Web links

• Swiss Culture Awards website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Special page Swiss Literature Prizes of the BAK , accessed on June 28, 2015.
2. ↑ NZZ, February 20, 2015
3. ↑ Übers. Ruth Gantert: Uncertain Manifesto 3. The death of Walter Benjamin. Ezra Pound behind bars. Ed. Clandestin, Biel 2017 (volumes 1, 2 ibid. 2016, 2017)
4. ↑ BAK press release of February 19, 2015