25,000 euros awarded – Polish author (56) is honored in Austria

Joanna Bator succeeds Frenchwoman Marie NDiaye, who received the honor in 2023.

Violence in the Second World War in pictures
“Born in the Lower Silesian town of Wałbrzych/Waldenburg, from which the German population was expelled from 1945, Joanna Bator makes several references in her works to the violent history of the Second World War, which continues to shape relations between Europe and Poland. This day. “Bator processes traumatic experiences from the last century in complex stories that mainly focus on female characters,” says the jury, which this year consisted of Bernhard Fetz, Benedikt Föger, Walter Grond, Claudia Romeder and Sabine Scholl.

“Full of imagination and humor”
“It charges charged places with literature, gives the subjects space and voice, brings them closer to the readers and impressively connects the past with current political and social reality. “Her approach is never didactic, but rather observational, linguistically grounded, playful, full of imagination and humor,” is how the jury describes the work of the Polish woman, whose German-language translation of her 800-page novel “Bitternis” was recently widely received. “With her literary works, Joanna Bator tells the great Central European history from a female perspective.”