Felicitas Hoppe wins Berlin Prize for Literature 

 

BERLIN – German writer and novelist Felicitas Hoppe will be awarded the Berlin Literature Prize, the city announced on Monday.

The prize, which carries a €20,000 ($21,600) award along with a 10-month and €10,000 fellowship to fund further study and work, is intended to promote contemporary German-language literature in fiction, drama and poetry.

The prize has been awarded since 2005.

Hoppe, whose most recent novel is “The Nibelungen: A German Silent Film (“Die Nibelungen. Ein deutscher Stummfilm”), was praised by the Berlin Literature Prize jury for her range as a writer.

She previously won the Georg Büchner Prize, widely considered among the most prestigious German-language literary awards, in 2012.

Hoppe’s work combines “feather-light humour with profound seriousness, a wild love of storytelling with a shy interest in a world that often does not mean well with people,” the jury said in a statement.

The magic of her stories lies in the fact that “with the vigour of her texts, the rhythm of her language and the energy of her words, she encourages us not to lose courage and confidence,” the jury added.

The 63-year-old Hoppe will be presented with the award on March 5 by Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner at a ceremony in Berlin’s city hall. German literary scholar Roxanne Phillips will deliver the lauditory speech.