Terézia Mora Wins the German Book Prize 2013 for her Novel "Das Ungeheuer"

The Börsenverein honours the year's best German-language novel / Award ceremony held before 300 guests at the Frankfurt Römer

FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 7, 2013 /CNW/ - The winner of the German Book Prize 2013 is Terézia Mora for her novel "Das Ungeheuer" (Luchterhand).

Statement from the jury:

A dark thread runs through the text of Terézia Mora's novel "Das Ungeheuer" ("Monster"), which tells the story of married couple Darius Kopp and Flora. He was an everyman who loved his wife more than anything - albeit hopelessly - and who was overwhelmed by her illness and depression. Flora took her own life, leaving Kopp behind with an urn filled with her ashes and a file in which his Hungarian wife had kept a diary of her disease. He sets off on a journey through Eastern Europe, in search of a home for the ashes and for his despair. His travels take him from Hungary to Croatia to Albania and beyond, until he finally descends upon Greece. "Das Ungeheuer" is both a stylistically brilliant obituary that is rich in perspective and a spirited road novel set in modern-day Eastern Europe. Terézia Mora adopts a radical approach to offer a voice to the deceased Flora and her suffering, which she was unable to share with Darius. Beneath the dark thread, her diary can be read as a complement to Darius' travel story - a mosaic of autobiographical and medical sketches on the subject of depression. As a writer, Mora succeeds in interweaving two text forms and two characters who failed each other in life. Terézia Mora combines a keen awareness of literary form with a capacity for empathy. "Das Ungeheuer" is a deeply moving novel that offers its own diagnosis of the contemporary age.

Jury members for the German Book Prize 2013 include: Helmut Böttiger (independent critic, jury spokesman), Katrin Lange (Literaturhaus Munich), Ursula März (Die Zeit), Jörg Plath (independent critic), Andreas Platthaus (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Klaus Seufer-Wasserthal (Rupertus Buchhandlung, Salzburg, Austria) and Claudia Voigt (Der Spiegel).

The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Stiftung - the Foundation of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association - awarded the German Book Prize 2013 to the best German-language title of the year to coincide with the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Additional information about the winner and her appearances during the Frankfurt Book Fair can be found at http://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de.

SOURCE: Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V.

Contact for the media:

Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V.
Claudia Paul, Director, Press and Public Relations
Telephone [phone], E-mail: [email protected]
Thomas Koch, Press Officer
Telephone [phone], E-mail: [email protected]