German Book Prize goes to Antje Rávik Strubel
Antje Rávik Strubel has been awarded the German Book Prize for her novel "Blaue Frau". The Book Fair is beginning in Frankfurt am Main – and is this year open to the public again.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa) - Antje Rávik Strubel is the recipient of the 2021 German Book Prize. Her book "Blaue Frau" was named best German-language novel of the year, as announced by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros. The novel describes a young woman's attempt to escape the memories of her rape.
The author tackles the subject "with existential force and poetic precision", the jury said. "The story of female self-empowerment grows into a reflection on rival cultures of memory in Eastern and Western Europe and power imbalances between the sexes." Strubel was born in Potsdam in 1974. She first trained as a bookseller and then studied psychology and literature in Potsdam and New York.
The Book Prize was awarded shortly before the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is taking place with an audience again this year after only a virtual event was possible in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Guest of Honour is Canada. The Book Fair will begin on Wednesday, initially only for trade visitors, but from Friday afternoon will then open to the general public. The number of visitors is limited to 25,000 daily. Visitors must either be vaccinated, have recovered from Covid-19 or show a negative test result.
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