The writer Lutz Seiler will be awarded the Georg Büchner Prize 2023 this Saturday (November 4th). The novelist and poet will be honored with a ceremony by the German Academy for Language and Poetry in the State Theater in Darmstadt. The prize, worth 50,000 euros, is one of the most important literary awards in German-speaking countries.
The jury justified their choice as a novelist and as a poet, Seiler had found his own, unmistakable voice – melancholic, urgent, sincere, full of wonderful echoes from a long literary tradition. The laudatory speech will be given by journalist and literary scholar Lothar Müller.
Since 1951, the Academy has awarded the prize to writers who write in German. The award winners must “stand out in a special way through their works and creations” and “have a significant role in shaping contemporary German cultural life,” according to the statutes. The prize is financed by the federal government, the state of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt.
