Anne Weber receives German Book Prize 2020 for her novel "Annette, ein Heldinnenepos" ("Annette, an Epic of a Heroine")

The winner of the German Book Prize 2020 is Anne Weber for her novel "Annette, ein Heldinnenepos" (Matthes & Seitz Berlin).

Statement from the jury: "The power of Anne Weber's story is equal to the power of her heroine: It is breathtaking how fresh the old form of the epic sounds here and with what lightness Weber condenses the life story of French resistance fighter Anne Beaumanoir into a novel about courage, resistance and the struggle for freedom. 'Annette, ein Heldinnenepos' ('Annette, an Epic of a Heroine') is a story full of hardships, which Weber tells with effortless discretion and subtle irony. This novel is about nothing less than Franco-German history as one of the foundations of our Europe today. We are grateful that Anne Weber has discovered Annette for us and tells her story."

The members of the jury for the German Book Prize 2020 are: Katharina Borchardt (literature editor, SWR2), Hanna Engelmeier (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen [KWI] and author), David Hugendick (literature editor, Zeit Online), Chris Möller (propagator of literature at Kabeljau & Dorsch, Berlin), Maria-Christina Piwowarski ("ocelot" bookstore, Berlin), Felix Stephan (literature editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and Denise Zumbrunnen ("Never Stop Reading" bookstore, Zurich).

The other novels that were shortlisted for the award are:
Bov Bjerg, "Serpentinen" (Claassen), Dorothee Elmiger, "Aus der Zuckerfabrik" (Carl Hanser), Thomas Hettche, "Herzfaden" (Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Deniz Ohde, "Streulicht" (Suhrkamp) and Christine Wunnicke, "Die Dame mit der bemalten Hand" (Berenberg).

The Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) awards the German Book Prize 2020 to the best German-language novel of the year. The German Book Prize receives funding from Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation), and additional partners include Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main. The television network Deutsche Welle supports the German Book Prize in its media activities both at home and abroad.

A press photo of the winner will be available for download at approx. 8 p.m. at www.boersenverein.de/pressefotos.

More information, including the dates and times of events with the winner, can be found at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/en/.

The hashtag for the German Book Prize 2020 is #dbp20.

Frankfurt am Main, 12 October 2020