Dorothee Elmiger speaks at the winner’s ceremony for the 2025 German Book Prize on October 13, having won the €25,000 award for ‘Die Holländerinnen.’ Image: Börsenverein, Christoph Jakob
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘A Fascinating Trip Into the Heart of Darkness’
Collecting a purse of €25,000 (US$28,912), author Dorothee Elmiger has won the 2025 German Book Prize tonight (October 13) here in Frankfurt, for her novel Die Holländerinnen (The Dutch Women), published by Carl Hanser Verlag.
Each of the other five shortlistees in the competition this year receives €2,500 (US$2,892) as was announced this evening in the Kaisersaal of Frankfurt’s Römer.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know from our coverage of this influential fiction program’s shortlist, this year’s jury chair Laura de Weck of Swiss Radio and Television was joined on the panel by:
- Maria Carolina, Foi University of Trieste
- Jürgen Kaube, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
- Friedhelm Marx, University of Bamberg
- Kathrin Matern, Frau Rilke bookshop, Neustrelitz
- Lara Sielmann, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
- Shirin Sojitrawalla, independent critic
In its rationale for the selection, the jury writes, in part, “This novel is an event.
“A writer recounts her journey into the South American jungle with a theater group, following in the footsteps of two Dutch women who disappeared there years ago. On this journey, the group tells each other disturbing stories.
“The deeper they wander into the thicket and mire, the more Elmiger draws the reader into a vortex of fear. Her novel tells of people who fall into their ‘darkest opposite.’
“It’s not just Elmiger’s language that is indirect, but also her reference to our present, which is gradually sinking into self-aggrandizement. Elmiger’s style is simultaneously detached yet captivating.
“The Dutch Women [is] a fascinating trip into the heart of darkness.”
The outgoing chair of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, says, “Every year, the German Book Prize gives us a space to linger.
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs
“It reveals how diversely German-language literature reflects our present—with all its ambivalence. Every novel unfolds page-by-page, word- by-word, and is experienced differently by each reader.
“In this dialogue between text and reader, we are allowed to be irritated, feel confirmed, or be surprised. We are allowed to reflect instead of immediately judging and celebrate literature as a place of encounter.”
The German Book Prize 2025 Shortlist
- Dorothee Elmiger, Die Holländerinnen (Carl Hanser Verlag, August 2025)
- Kaleb Erdmann, Die Ausweichschule (park x ullstein, July 2025)
- Jehona Kicaj, ë (Wallstein Verlag, July 2025)
- Thomas Melle, Haus zur Sonne (Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, August 2025)
- Fiona Sironic, Am Samstag gehen die Mädchen in den Wald und jagen Sachen in die Luft (Ecco Verlag, March 2025)
- Christine Wunnicke, Wachs (Berenberg Verlag, March 2025)
The German Book Prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels—the Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.
The main sponsor of the prize is the Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation). Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners.
If you’d like to follow news of the German Book Prize, follow #dbp25 on social media.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the German Book Prize is here, more on publishing and book awards in general is here, and more on the German book market is here.
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