Siegfried Lenz is still with is, but at 89 is thinking about his legacy, and so he's forming a Siegfried Lenz foundation -- and they've now announced that one of the things they'll be doing is awarding an annual prize; see, for example, Armgard Seegers and Thomas Andre's report in Die Welt.
An author prize (this being Germany, where author prizes are much more popular that book prizes), worth a tidy €50,000 (which puts it in the top tier of German literary prizes, financially speaking), it is apparently open to all authors (German- and other-writing), as long as the writing is consistent with the spirit of Lenz's own writing.
Something like that, anyway -- we should see soon enough: the first winner will collect the prize in November
My great hope is that this prize will quickly become known as 'the Siggi'. (Okay: 'der Siggi'.)
Lenz's work has been translated, on and off, into English -- the most (and only) recent work being A Minute's Silence (published in the US as Stella, because ... well ...).
My great hope is that this prize will quickly become known as 'the Siggi'. (Okay: 'der Siggi'.)
Lenz's work has been translated, on and off, into English -- the most (and only) recent work being A Minute's Silence (published in the US as Stella, because ... well ...).