Joseph-Breitbach-Preis (Joseph Breitbach Prize) is a literary prize awarded by the
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur
The Academy of Sciences and Literature () is a scientific academy in Mainz, Germany. It was established in 1949 on an initiative of Alfred Döblin. The academy's goal is to support science and literature, and in doing so to help preserve and pr ...
Mainz (Academy of Sciences and Literature of
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
) in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and the Joseph Breitbach Foundation. Established in 1998, the prize is worth 50,000
euro
The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
s and is awarded annually in
Koblenz
Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...
, birthplace of writer
Joseph Breitbach (1903–1980), for whom the prize is named.
Winners
* 1998:
Hans Boesch,
Friedhelm Kemp,
Brigitte Kronauer
* 1999:
Reinhard Jirgl,
Wolf Lepenies,
Rainer Malkowski
* 2000:
Ilse Aichinger,
W. G. Sebald,
Markus Werner
* 2001:
Thomas Hürlimann
Thomas Hürlimann (born 21 December 1950) is a Swiss playwright and novelist.
Biography
Hürlimann was born in Zug, Switzerland. He is a son of the former government and federal councilor (Minister) Hans Hürlimann. He studied philosophy in Züri ...
,
Ingo Schulze
Ingo Schulze (born 15 December 1962) is a German writer born in Dresden in former East Germany. He studied classical philology at the University of Jena for five years, and, until German reunification, was an assistant director (dramatic arts a ...
,
* 2002:
Elazar Benyoëtz,
Erika Burkart,
Robert Menasse
* 2003:
Christoph Meckel
Christoph Meckel (12 June 1935 – 29 January 2020) was a German author and graphic artist. He received awards for his works which connect illustrations with the written text, sometimes texts by others.
Life
Born in Berlin, Meckel spent his you ...
,
Herta Müller
Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was born in Nițchidorf (; ), Timiș County in Romania; her native languages are German and Romanian. Si ...
,
Harald Weinrich
Harald Weinrich (24 September 1927 – 26 February 2022) was a German classical scholar, scholar of Romance philology and philosopher, known for the breadth of his writings.
Biography
He was emeritus professor of the Collège de France, and he ...
* 2004:
Raoul Schrott
* 2005:
Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt
Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt (born 2 May 1928) is a French writer and translator of German origin.
Biography
Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt was born in Reinbek near Hamburg, into a Jewish family of magistrates converted to Protestantism.
His fath ...
* 2006:
Wulf Kirsten
* 2007:
Friedrich Christian Delius
* 2008:
Marcel Beyer
* 2009:
Ursula Krechel
* 2010:
Michael Krüger
* 2011:
Hans Joachim Schädlich
* 2012:
Kurt Flasch
* 2013:
Jenny Erpenbeck
* 2014:
Navid Kermani
* 2015:
Thomas Lehr
* 2016:
Reiner Stach
Reiner Stach (born 1951) is a German author, biographer of Franz Kafka, publisher, and publicist. Stach lives and works as a freelancer in Berlin.
Early life and education
Stach was born in Rochlitz, Saxony. At age 17, he left home due to fami ...
* 2017:
Dea Loher
* 2018:
Arno Geiger
Arno Geiger (born 22 July 1968) is an Austrian novelist.
Geiger grew up in the village of Wolfurt near Bregenz. He studied German studies, ancient history and comparative literature at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. He has worked as ...
* 2019:
Thomas Hettche
* 2020:
Nora Bossong
* 2021:
* 2022:
Natascha Wodin
* 2023:
Marion Poschmann
* 2024:
Anne Weber
* 2025:
Frank Witzel"Joseph-Breitbach-Preis 2025 geht an Schriftsteller Frank Witzel"
wdr.de, 8 May 2025 (in German). Retrieved 8 May 2025.
References
External links
*
Joseph-Breitbach-Preis
on Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz website
German literary awards
German-language literary awards
Awards established in 1998
Koblenz
{{Germany-lit-award-stub