International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz awarded to Jenny Erpenbeck

The International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz was awarded to the German writer Jenny Erpenbeck today, Saturday 1 April. The prizewinner accepted the award in person from Lord Mayor Sven Schulze at Chemnitz Opera House in the presence of the Saxon State Minister for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion, Petra Köpping.

With this prize, the International Stefan Heym Society and the City of Chemnitz honour authors and publicists who have made an outstanding contribution to public discourse in the spirit of Stefan Heym and whose work has a lasting impact on society as a whole. The International Stefan Heym Prize is awarded every three years and, at 20,000 euros, is one of the most highly endowed literary prizes in Germany.

Lord Mayor Sven Schulze: "With this prize, we are honouring people who, like Stefan Heym, take a critical look at their time, who contradict and open doors, who open up surprising perspectives and take a clear position with courage. In doing so, we are honouring a great son of our city and today's prizewinner."

Minister of State Petra Köpping: "We need people who stand up for the values of our society with thought-provoking written and spoken words. Stefan Heym and now the winners of the International Stefan Heym Prize are such voices that shape and effectively advance these important debates."

Prize winner Jenny Erpenbeck: "It is a special pleasure and honour for me to receive the Stefan Heym Prize today - named after an author who not only continues to have an impact today through his works and his reflections on a fairer society, but whose life experience and ability to judge independently have always been something of a beacon for me in times of political storms."

The writer also signed the city of Chemnitz's Golden Book during the award ceremony.

Born in East Berlin, writer Jenny Erpenbeck pursued a career as a writer alongside her career as a theatre director in Germany and Austria. Her debut novel "Geschichte vom alten Kind" was published in 1999. In addition to other novels such as "Heimsuchung" (2008), "Aller Tage Abend" (2012), "Gehen, ging, gegangen" (2015) and "Kairos" (2021), Jenny Erpenbeck has published essays and plays, some of which she has directed herself. Her works have been translated into more than 30 languages. She has been honoured for her literary work in particular with a number of national and international awards, most recently the Uwe Johnson Prize.

By awarding the prize to Jenny Erpenbeck, the Board of Trustees, which decides on the award, is honouring an author "who critically examines controversial and current socio-political issues and presents them in a clear and comprehensible literary language that at the same time reflects the complexity of the problems and constellations dealt with. In her work, she always links the particular with the general by emphasising the manifold connections and dependencies of individual fates and relationships on social and historical dimensions. [...] Without nostalgic glorification, but with great linguistic subtlety, she repeatedly brings her own East German past and experience of reunification into the literary and social discourse and in this way keeps the dialogue and efforts at understanding between East and West alive."

The International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz

The International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz is awarded in memory of the life, work and achievements of Stefan Heym, the son and honorary citizen of the city.

The prize was first awarded to Amos Oz in 2008. Bora Ćosić received the award in 2011. On the occasion of Stefan Heym's 100th birthday, the prize was awarded to Christoph Hein in 2013. Joanna Bator was honoured with the prize in 2017. The International Stefan Heym Prize of 2020 was awarded to the Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulić and the Swedish author Richard Swartz - due to the coronavirus pandemic, only in the following year.

The Board of Trustees, which decides on the awarding of the prize, includes the Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz, the P.E.N. Centre Germany, the Goethe-Institut, C. Bertelsmann Verlag, the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) - German Section and the International Stefan Heym Society, Professor Malinowski, holder of the Chair of Modern and Comparative Literature at Chemnitz University of Technology, and two councillors from the City of Chemnitz Cultural Committee. The patron of the board of trustees is Inge Heym, Stefan Heym's widow.

The International Stefan Heym Awards

At the same time as awarding the International Stefan Heym Prize, the City of Chemnitz is also awarding the International Stefan Heym Sponsorship Prizes. Applications can be submitted to the City of Chemnitz from now until 15 September 2023. The sponsorship awards have a total value of 20,000 euros.

Projects and initiatives that are active in the fields of art, culture, science and research or the preservation of Stefan Heym's legacy and that deal with social issues in a critical, courageous and productive manner in the spirit of Stefan Heym will be supported in the form of pro rata prize money. Individuals, initiatives, institutions, private and public organisations and associations can apply. The sponsored projects should be realised by the time the next International Stefan Heym Prize is awarded in 2026. The Board of Trustees for the International Stefan Heym Prize decides on the awarding of the sponsorship prizes.