Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis

       Okay, how can you not love a literary prize where an article about it notes:

But since the case of Weiss, "everyone is just waiting for someone to at least eat their manuscript again," said Doris Moser.

       That's from The scandalous history of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize by Marlis Schaum and Dirk Ulrich Kaufmann at Deutsche Welle -- who note that:

The list of controversies at the literary competition in Klagenfurt is long and bizarre. From the indigestible to the unspeakable, nothing is too unappetizing to be omitted. Following one reading, the author Philipp Weiss ate his manuscript. During his presentation, young author Rainald Goetz cut open his forehead with a razorblade, and continued to read while covered in blood. And the Swiss author Urs Allemann ventured to read a text entitled Baby Fucker.

       But, alas, audiences waited in vain for anyone to pull out a knife and fork (or razorblade) this year again. Indeed. as they note:

This year's reading competition for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize has been unusually trouble-free. There's been no cursing or spilling of blood.

       And they've now announced (only in German so far, last I checked) that Olga Martynova's text, Ich werde sagen Hi ('I'll say 'Hi''; not available at the site in English translation this year, unfortunately) took this year's prize; see also some of the (German) jury discussion.
       (For limited English-language mention, see the AFP report, Austrian literary award goes to Russian author.)