Chemnitz fairytale book with winning texts published
Invitation to the press event on 1 December, 2 p.m. via Web-Ex
On Wednesday, 1 December, the first volume of the Chemnitz Fairy Tale Book, published by the City of Chemnitz, will be published. It will be presented online on 1 December at 2 pm during a press conference together with the three authors of the winning texts.
Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. A binding registration is required by Wednesday, 11 a.m. , stating an e-mail address.
Following the press conference, there will be an opportunity to take photos with the authors in front of City Hall at around 2.45 pm.
"Your Chemnitz. Your fairy tale." was the name of the writing competition organised by the City of Chemnitz in June this year. Almost 70 fairy tale texts were submitted. A jury selected the three winning texts, which will now be published. The book will be available in bookshops from 1 December and online in a few days' time.
Veronika Ahnert's story "Benno and the Keeper of the Riddle" impressed the five-member jury the most. The author won first place and 500 euros. Her main character Benno takes the reader to a place that almost everyone in the city knows, the Karl Marx Monument, and is left chewing gum in amazement. With a lot of humour and ingenuity, Benno and his friends try to solve a mystery that leads them to less visible but nevertheless important things in the city. "Benno and the Keeper of the Riddle" was illustrated as the main story by the Chemnitz graphic artist Mathilde Schliebe with large-format pictures and marks the beginning of the Chemnitz fairytale book.
Marko Roscher won second place and 300 euros with his story "Renate Regenwurm und die Suche nach der verschwundenen Blühwiese". The fairy tale is dedicated to the vulnerability and beauty of nature and tells of friendship, trust and longing.
Third place and 200 euros went to Beatrice Werner and her fairytale "Lalulas". The funny gnomes bring a lot of colour to the city and work up quite a sweat when a star goes missing.
Mayor Sven Schulze: "There are many creative, hidden ideas in our city that want to be discovered, told and developed. This was also evident in the writing competition. I am delighted with the many profound, funny and colourful stories and hope that this fairytale book will delight many Chemnitz residents."
The book is published by the regional publishing house edition claus from Limbach-Oberfrohna. It has 52 pages and is published in an edition of 3000 copies. It costs 14 euros in bookshops. The "Karl liebt Käthe" gallery will publish more fairy tales from the writing competition in the coming days by sharing stories read by authors on social media.
The jury consisted of five participants: Anett Friedrich, director of the Filou daycare centre, Katrin Kropf, editor of the youth scene at Chemnitz City Library and author of the 2020 Chemnitz fairy tale "How the penguins came to Chemnitz...", Cornelia Siegel, officer in the mayor's department, Diana Winkler, owner of the Chemnitz children's bookshop MonOkel, and Christian Wobst, publisher of edition claus.
Opinions of the jury
"After reading 'Benno and the Keeper of the Riddle', I just wanted to walk through the city, chew lots of colourful chewing gum and listen..." (Diana Winkler, MonOkel bookshop)
"'Benno und der Hüter des Rätsels' is an eloquent and fast-paced story against time with lots of local colour, in the truest sense of the word!" (Katrin Kropf, City Library)
"'Renate Regenwurm und die Suche nach der verschwundenen Blühwiese' is a modern-day fairy tale. It poses big questions from the perspective of the little ones: about friendship, change and responsibility. Amusingly told and endearing." (Cornelia Siegel, City of Chemnitz)
"With the story of the 'Lalulas', the colourful Esse of Chemnitz is given a beautiful secret. Simply funny!" (Anett Friedrich, Head of Filou daycare centre)
"I am very pleased that the city of Chemnitz has initiated a writing competition. Some wonderful fairy tales were submitted. We have the honour of bringing the three best stories into the world with our publishing house and thus showing how creative the people of Chemnitz are." (Christian Wobst, publisher edition claus)