Almost 400 young writers from all over Germany have applied for this year’s Treffen junger Autor*innen. Together with the jury, we would like to thank all the artists for submitting so many exciting, creative and touching texts.
The members of the jury now had the difficult task of making the final selection from the submissions.
Johanna Klara Bauer
19 years
Duisburg (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Selected with:
“Enklave der Panik”
Maria Buchtijarova
16 years
Vechta (Lower Saxony)
Selected with:
“13.320 Sekunden”
Miu Dehnel
21 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Der Fuchs kommt nicht mehr”
“Hinweis zur Geschichte”
Souat Eslek
22 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Patchwork/intro to the sou/zoo experience no 22”
Adiel Francis
20 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Mutter Staub – Auszug”
“Als die Berge versteinerten”
“Im Auge der Krähe”
Thies Giradet
20 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Prosaausschnitte und -texte”
Jasmina Jarysz
18 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Meeresbluten”
Loreley Löffler
17 years
Elmshorn (Schleswig-Holstein)
Selected with:
“Pseudo-Poetizität ist eine Alliteration”
Maya Miyata
19 years
Bliesdorf (Brandenburg)
Selected with:
“City Boy takes off”
“Anhang zu City Boys take off” (German translation)
“Großeltern (H-Milch-Geschmack, Filmseminar)”
“Ich sehe dich noch in den Sonnenblumen stehen”
“Oderkind”
“Versuch, über Brandenburg zu schreiben”
Victoria Neuser
21 years
Siegen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Selected with:
“cave canem”
“exsudat”
Charlotte Obenaus
19 years
Dresden (Saxony)
Selected with:
“Zähmung”
Lisa-Marie Preuss
21 years
Oestrich-Winkel (Hesse)
Selected with:
“Schwimmen macht hungrig”
“Fineline”
Jona Rogalski
19 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Achilles und die Kettensäge”
Ruben Schastok
16 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“World Not fair – Geschichten der Hoffnung”
Findus Scheuerling
19 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“Bekenntnisse an der Fleischtheke oder Nacktfotos als Kühlschrankmagnete”
Pina Schulze
14 years
Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg)
Selected with:
“Drei Tage Regen”
Coralie Josephine Spohr
11 years
Nürnberg (Bavaria)
Selected with:
“Frakta”
Sophie Steger
21 years
Jena (Thüringen)
Selected with:
“Die mit dem Kopfsalat”
Liam Talbot
19 years
München (Bavaria)
Selected with:
“Mein Mann und ich und eine Frau”
“also”
Anna Thommes
19 years
Maintal-Wachenbuchen (Hesse)
Selected with:
“Erbrochenes in Eden (De la Ritournelle)”
“Auf dem Weg zurück()gelesen.”
Marie Helene Zwicker
21 years
Berlin
Selected with:
“nachspeisen”
The authors represent the entire age range of the Treffen junger Autor*innen. Young talents aged 11 to 21 from 10 federal states are represented. Around half of the works are lyrical in nature, ranging from long poems to experimental and visual forms of poetry. The prose section includes short stories, miniatures, collections of stories, and excerpts from novels. Some texts are multilingual. The selection showcases a young generation of writers who have already mastered their craft in an impressive way and know how to effectively convey their content to an audience.
In terms of content, the authors recount very personal situations and relationships, from questions of social and emotional integration to family histories and everyday observations, to issues of the global situation, politics, climate, and social or economic injustice. In addition to clear and precise descriptions of reality, mystical, powerful, eerie, and apocalyptic scenarios are also created. The themes are love, queer identity, and the longing for closeness—without being able to allow it. Transsexual existences, family memories, forms and realities of motherhood, family alcoholism, and domestic violence are described. There are clearly feminist texts that convey the lack of understanding and abuse that women still encounter today. Nature appears as the origin of all life – beautiful, brutal and wounded, as climate catastrophes testify. The stories are simple, such as the life story of an IKEA bag, stories of anger, helplessness and fantasies of destruction, of loneliness, the search for home, social isolation, bombs and the war in the Ukraine. And as a counterbalance to this, there is a petting zoo – a place of remembrance of childlike, naive peace.
The authors succeed in conveying intimate and powerful emotions in a moving way without resorting to kitsch. They also tell their stories in quiet voices, with beautiful observations of detail, and draw exciting and self-confident protagonists. Sometimes the texts are collage-like, presenting word quarries or cleverly combining different linguistic realities. The young artists also move beyond everyday language, playing with words or creating neologisms, trying out experimental approaches, working with rhythm and sound language, being casually pointed, mastering different registers and tonalities that leave room for readers' associations.
We are also delighted to congratulate another 10 authors on their inclusion in the longlist for the Treffen junger Autor*innen! The jury has compiled a longlist of remarkable authors from the selection process, whose texts they have honoured with this special mention. The authors on the longlist are invited to participate in a workshop discussion with the jury members during the meeting in Berlin, either in person or digitally, in order to receive feedback and suggestions for their texts.
Special mention on the longlist:
Nea Brunn, 20 years, Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg)
Jakob Buurmann, 21 years, Köln (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Selin Erdogan, 21 years, Leipzig (Saxony)
Victoria Annabelle Esenwein, 20 years, Bochum (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Moritz Heidobler, 19 years, Dingolfing (Bavaria)
Clara Hoenen, 21 years, Neuendettelsau (Bavaria)
Elisa Reisener, 20 Jahre, Plön (Schleswig-Holstein)
Noa Matthea Liebscher, 19 years, Berlin
Luise Helene Otto, 22 years, München (Bavaria)
Berenice Sommer, 20 years, Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt)
Congratulations!
In addition, 20 other applicants will receive a book and reading cheque as a sponsorship prize for their interesting and promising texts.
Congratulations to:
Lionel Bornitz, 14 years, Seeheim (Hesse)
Leandra Bulla, 15 years, Berlin
Laura Cichońska, 13 years, Berlin
Clara Christ, 17 years, Suhl (Thuringia)
Mia Elena Declerq, 15 years, Dinkelsbühl (Bavaria)
Rana Faizi, 15 years, Berlin
Lara Maria Feldhausen, 17 years, Hattingen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Emilia Caroline Grätzel, 11 years, Worms (Rheinland-Pfalz)
Lilli Händel, 11 years, Möser (Saxony-Anhalt)
Jeny Thanh Mai Ho, 15 years, Frankfurt am Main (Hesse)
Charlotte Jelinek, 13 years, Berlin
Jan Kramps, 13 years, Seligenstadt (Hesse)
Sarah Pantenburg, 14 years, Trier (Rheinland-Pfalz)
Jona Valentin Rose, 10 years, Berlin
Mona Schlegel, 15 years, Kempen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Emelie Shubbar, 16 years, Hamburg
Elisabeth Stroganova, 11 years, Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Milena Trawny, 14 years, Hamburg
Chiara Wackermann, 17 years, Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn (Bavaria)
Rosalie Ziegler, 11 years, Berlin