Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç Receives the Max Frisch Prize for Emerging Writers 2026

Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç has been awarded the Max Frisch Prize for Emerging Authors for 2026. In its public remarks, the jury noted that, Keskinkılıç, like Frisch, is concerned with »the question of how identity is formed through the interplay between internal and external perceptions, and how literature can be a means of critically questioning and reimagining these processes«.

The City of Zurich’s Max Frisch Prize is awarded to authors from German-speaking countries whose work addresses fundamental issues facing democratic society in an artistically uncompromising form. It is endowed with a total of 50,000 Swiss francs and is awarded every four years. The prize has been awarded since 2018, with a main prize and a category for emerging writers. The prize for emerging writers was most recently awarded to fellow Suhrkamp author Enis Maci. The winners are chosen by representatives from the Max Frisch Foundation at ETH Zurich, while the prize itself is organised and funded by the City of Zurich.

The main prize of 40,000 Swiss francs went to Austrian writer Michael Köhlmeier. The prize for emerging writers is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs. The prizes will be presented on Sunday 7 June 2026 at an awards ceremony at Schauspielhaus Zurich.