The independent jury praises Lutz Seiler as an all-round weighty author whose works bear witness to poetic linguistic power and contemporary political intensity. In his poetry (most recently "schrift für blinde riesen", 2021), essays and above all in his larger prose works, the two novels "Kruso" and "Stern 111", which are set shortly before and after the fall of the Wall, he has given new impetus to contemporary German-language literature. His literary treatment of the transition from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany is surprisingly different, politically sensitive and literarily highly innovative. He tells of the reorganisation of people in a turn of the times and of how freedom is possible in the face of great political changes in norms.
The Literary Award of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung has been awarded since 1993 to authors who give freedom the floor. It is endowed with 20,000 euros. Lutz Seiler will be the 30th recipient of the Literary Award. Previous winners include Sarah Kirsch, Walter Kempowski, Hilde Domin, Günter de Bruyn, Thomas Hürlimann, Hartmut Lange, Burkhard Spinnen, Louis Begley, Norbert Gstrein, Adam Zagajewski, Patrick Roth, Herta Müller, Wulf Kirsten, Daniel Kehlmann, Petra Morsbach, Ralf Rothmann, Uwe Tellkamp, Cees Nooteboom, Arno Geiger, Tuvia Rübner, Martin Mosebach, Rüdiger Safranski, Marica Bodrožić, Michael Kleeberg, Michael Köhlmeier, Mathias Énard, Husch Josten, Hans Pleschinski und Barbara Honigmann.
The members of the jury are: the Vice-President of the LMU Munich Prof. Dr. Oliver Jahraus, former Minister-President Christine Lieberknecht, Sandra Kegel (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), the Germanist from Bamberg Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx, Wolfgang Matz as well as Prof. Dr. Birgit Lermen as honorary member.
