Ricarda Messner Wins the 2025 Fulda Literature Prize for Where the Name Lives
News28.01.2025
Suhrkamp author Ricarda Messner has been awarded to the 2025 Fulda Literature Prize for her debut novel, Where the Name Lives. The Fulda Literature Prize is awarded to the best debut novel of the year. The award comes with a cash prize of €10,000.
This year's jury was made up of the writers Anna Yeliz Schentke and Zsuzsa Bánk, the literary critic Julia Schröder, the writer Christoph Peters and the literary critic Christoph Schröder. The jury had the following to say about the winning work: »Ricarda Messner's debut Where the Name Lives is a tentative attempt by a young woman to understand her family history and to preserve its memory. Based on the narrative of an unusual relationship between granddaughter and grandmother, the novel uses artefacts and reconstructions to circle in on the crimes of the Nazis in Latvia. Where the Name Lives finds a quiet and haunting language in which to show how losses echo in the realms of emotion and intuition, transcending generations.«
The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 5 June 2025, at the Fulda City Palace. The judges remarks will be delivered by Anna Yeliz Schentke.
This year's jury was made up of the writers Anna Yeliz Schentke and Zsuzsa Bánk, the literary critic Julia Schröder, the writer Christoph Peters and the literary critic Christoph Schröder. The jury had the following to say about the winning work: »Ricarda Messner's debut Where the Name Lives is a tentative attempt by a young woman to understand her family history and to preserve its memory. Based on the narrative of an unusual relationship between granddaughter and grandmother, the novel uses artefacts and reconstructions to circle in on the crimes of the Nazis in Latvia. Where the Name Lives finds a quiet and haunting language in which to show how losses echo in the realms of emotion and intuition, transcending generations.«
The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 5 June 2025, at the Fulda City Palace. The judges remarks will be delivered by Anna Yeliz Schentke.