The €20,000 Kleist-Preis will go to Marcel Beyer this year -- no news at the official site yet (sigh ...), but see, for example, the boersenblatt.net report.
This is one of those one-person-picks-the-winner prizes (the Germans like these, for some reason) -- though oddly there also is an actual jury (to pressure the decision-maker ?); this year it was Hortensia Voelckers who picked the winner. Presumably as a consequence of this selection-process this prize is all over the place as far as the previous winners goes, but they have included Alexander Kluge, Heiner Müller, Ernst Jandl, Herta Müller, and Daniel Kehlmann,
Several of Beyer's works have been translated into English; the unsettling Goebbels-novel, The Karnau Tapes is probably your best bet, get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk (I have no idea what the deal is with that cover).
This is one of those one-person-picks-the-winner prizes (the Germans like these, for some reason) -- though oddly there also is an actual jury (to pressure the decision-maker ?); this year it was Hortensia Voelckers who picked the winner. Presumably as a consequence of this selection-process this prize is all over the place as far as the previous winners goes, but they have included Alexander Kluge, Heiner Müller, Ernst Jandl, Herta Müller, and Daniel Kehlmann,
Several of Beyer's works have been translated into English; the unsettling Goebbels-novel, The Karnau Tapes is probably your best bet, get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk (I have no idea what the deal is with that cover).