Writer and freelance director Judith Kuckart and photographer Burkhard Peter are the recipients of this year's literary scholarship from the city of Chemnitz. Their tandem application beat 52 other applications in the competition. The two will divide their stay from the beginning of April to the end of September equally, with Burkhard Peter starting on 1 April.
A total of 53 applications were received for the City of Chemnitz's third literature scholarship between the beginning of August and mid-September 2025 - more applications and more international than ever before. There were submissions from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Georgia, Italy and Estonia. The aim was to find a literary producer who would live in Chemnitz from April to September 2026, engage with the city and region in a multifaceted way during this time, participate in the socio-political and cultural discourse and enrich it with their own contributions.
The jury that selected the tandem application by Judith Kuckart and Burkhard Peter consisted of Arna Aley (freelance author, translator and 1st literature scholarship holder of the City of Chemnitz), Prof. Ulrike Brummert, docteur d'Etat (cultural scientist at Chemnitz University of Technology and Chemnitz Cultural Advisory Board member), Dr. Lutz Graner (literary scholar at the University of Bielefeld and owner of the Chemnitzer Eichenspinner Verlag publishing house), Markus Heinke (project manager for culture at the Netzwerk für Kultur- und Jugendarbeit Chemnitz), Thoralf Kuhnt (bookseller and organiser of the Bookcornern series) and Stefanie Menschner (spoken word artist and poetry slammer).
The scholarship includes 1,500 euros per month during the stay as well as the provision of a furnished flat.
The scholarship holders
Judith Kuckart (born 1959) grew up on the edge of the Ruhr area. She lives in Berlin. She completed her studies in literature and theatre studies with a master's degree on Else Lasker-Schüler. She attended the dance department at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen and founded the Skoronel dance theatre in 1984, an independent professional group with which she realised 17 productions up to 1998. She has been working as a writer and freelance director since 1999. Her new novel "Die Welt zwischen den Nachrichten" was published by DuMont in August 2024.
Burkhard Peter (born 1961) studied photography and film design at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He lives as a freelance photographer in Berlin. He works throughout Germany in the field of portrait and reportage photography, as well as documentation in the editorial field, for institutions, publishers, magazines, PR and advertising. Since 2015, his artistic work has focussed on the urban landscape as a living space, focusing on urban, small-town and provincial settings.
Judith Kuckart and Burkhard Peter have already worked together on several joint projects. They have applied for the City of Chemnitz Literature Scholarship as a tandem in order to each contribute individually to a project and also to a joint project in the city of Chemnitz.
Welcome event
On Thursday, 23 April, from 7 p.m., the two scholarship holders will introduce themselves at the launch event for this year's literature scholarship at the Neue Sächsische Galerie. A moderated discussion including a reading is planned.
Background to the literary scholarship
In 2022, the city of Chemnitz announced a literary scholarship for the first time. The first was awarded to the Berlin author Arna Aley. During her six-month stay from October 2022 to March 2023, she invited Chemnitz residents to tell her stories during regular consultation hours at the Stefan Heym Forum. In addition to the opening and closing events for the fellowship at the NSG, she gave interviews in the official gazette of the city of Chemnitz, on MDR Sachsen and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. She also wrote regularly in a column for the Freie Presse, presented her performance project at the Projektraum Tankstelle and was very actively involved in Chemnitz's cultural landscape.
The 2nd Literature Scholarship of the City of Chemnitz was announced in 2023 and went to Stefan Hornbach. During his time in Chemnitz, the author wrote his second novel, visited events and cultural organisations and took over the "Monokel" bookshop for a day, talking books with customers. He also organised the Literary Salon at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz and hosted a closing gala with readings and performances at Weltecho.
The two literary fellows of the City of Chemnitz, Arna Aley and Stefan Hornbach, have made a significant contribution to the visibility of literature in Chemnitz and to the networking of regional literary actors. Arna Aley acted as an ambassador for the city beyond the time of her fellowship stay by, among other things, leading the writing workshop for the Capital of Culture project "Rummelplatz" at Chemnitz Opera. Stefan Hornbach organised a reading in a historic tram with "Queer unterwegs!". In addition, both were part of the Capital of Culture project "Heym-Reise" in 2025.
