German Book Prize 2025 - Frankfurt Book Fair
The Jury: "This novel is an event" - Dorothee Elmiger receives the German Book Prize 2025 for "The Dutch Women"
Award for the Best German-Language Novel of 2025 (DEUTSCH)
Frankfurt. Novelist Dorothee Elmiger has won the German Book Prize 2025 with her novel "The Dutch Women" (Carl Hanser Verlag). The winner was honored yesterday at 7 p.m. The German Book Prize 2025 is awarded by the Foundation for Book Culture and Reading Promotion of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association to the German-language novel of the year. The main sponsor of the German Book Prize is the Deutsche Bank Foundation; other partners are the Frankfurt Book Fair and the City of Frankfurt am Main. Dorothee Elmiger will receive prize money of 25,000 euros. The five finalists (see below) will each receive 2,500 euros.
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| SZ - Zeppelin, Foto: Helga Waess (Cover Kunst-Kultur-Blog) |
The jury's reasoning for selecting Dorothee Elmiger's novel "The Dutch Women"
"This novel is an event. A writer recounts her journey into the South American jungle with a theater group, following in the footsteps of two Dutch women who disappeared there years ago. On this journey, the group tells each other disturbing stories. The deeper they wander into the thicket and mud, the more Elmiger draws readers into a vortex of fear.
Her novel tells of people who fall into their 'darkest opposite.' It's not just Elmiger's language that is indirect, but also her reference to our present, which is gradually sinking into self-aggrandizement. Elmiger's style is both detached and yet captivating. 'The Dutch Women' – a fascinating trip into the heart of darkness."
The jury for the 2025 German Book Prize includes:
- Jury spokesperson Laura de Weck (Swiss Radio and Television),
- Maria Carolina Foi (University of Trieste),
- Jürgen Kaube (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung),
- Friedhelm Marx (University of Bamberg),
- Kathrin Matern (Frau Rilke Bookstore, Neustrelitz),
- Lara Sielmann (Deutschlandfunk Kultur),
- Shirin Sojitrawalla (freelance critic).
"Every year, the German Book Prize gives us a place to linger.
It reveals how diversely German-language literature reflects our present – with all its ambivalence. Every novel unfolds page by page, word by word, and is experienced differently by each reader. In this dialogue between text and reader, we are allowed to be puzzled, feel confirmed, or be surprised. We are allowed to reflect instead of immediately judging and celebrate literature as a place of encounter," says Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Chair of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.
The five finalists will each receive €2,500.
The winning title was determined in several selection stages. Since the competition began, the seven jury members have reviewed 229 titles published between October 2024 and September 2025. From these novels, a longlist of 20 titles was compiled. From these, the jury selected six titles for the shortlist. The awards ceremony took place in the Kaisersaal of Frankfurt's Römer.
The following authors were also nominated for the award for Best Novel of the Year 2025:
- Kaleb Erdmann: The Alternative School (park x ullstein, July 2025),
- Jehona Kicaj: ë (Wallstein Verlag, July 2025),
- Thomas Melle: House to the Sun (Kiepenheuer & Witsch Verlag, August 2025),
- Fiona Sironic: On Saturdays, the Girls Go into the Forest and Blow Things Up (Ecco Verlag, March 2025),
- Christine Wunnicke: Wax (Berenberg Verlag, March 2025).
