Liberaturpreis

LiBeraturpreis 2021

The winner is Pilar Quintana | COLOMBIA

Colombian author Pilar Quintana is this year’s winner of Litprom’s LiBeraturpreis, an award honouring female writers from the Global South. Her novel »La Perra« (»Hündin«, translated into German by Mayela Gerhardt, published by Aufbau) is a »profound human tragedy told in skilfully sparse prose«, the award’s jury says. Pilar Quintana plans to attend Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Pilar Quintana says: »In Colombia, since you are born, you are told that proper girls should have straight hair. It is not easy to be a woman in Colombia. It’s even more difficult if you’re racialized, impoverished, and from an isolated area, like Damaris, the character in my book.
I want to thank the women from Colombia, especially those born with curly hair like me — you don’t need to straighten it if you don’t want to — and I want to give special thanks to Black women in isolated areas like Colombia's Pacific Coast, where the book is set. This award is because of you and for all of you. Thank you as well to my publishers Aufbau Verlag, to my agent Sandra Pareja, to my husband and my son, to Mayela Gerhardt the translator, and, of course, to the jury and the Litprom team for this LiBeraturpreis. I’m truly honored.«

Contact

Marcella Melien
melien@buchmesse.de

Tel. +49 69 2102-246


These were the nominees and their works (in alphabetical order):

Oyinkan Braithwaite NIGERIA: »Meine Schwester, die Serienmörderin«

Novel. Translated from English by Yasemin Dinçer. Blumenbar, 240 pages

Weltempfänger 46 / Spring 2020


Ava Farmehri CANADA: »Im düstern Wald werden unsre Leiber hängen«

Novel. Translated from English by Sonja Finck. Edition Nautilus, 288 pages

Weltempfänger 49 / Winter 2020


Meena Kandasamy INDIA: »Schläge«

Novel. Translated from English by Karen Gerwig. CulturBooks, 264 pages

Weltempfänger 47 / Summer 2020



Mieko Kawakami JAPAN: »Brüste und Eier«

Novel. Translated from Japanese by Katja Busson. Dumont Verlag, 496 pages

Weltempfänger 48 / Fall 2020



Koleka Putuma SOUTHAFRICA: »Kollektive Amnesie«

Poems. Translated from English by Paul-Henri Campbell. Das Wunderhorn, 204 pages

Weltempfänger 46 / Spring 2020



Pilar Quintana COLOMBIA: »Hündin«

Novel. Translated from Spanish by Mayela Gerhardt. Aufbau, 151 pages

Weltempfänger 49 / Winter 2020



Samanta Schweblin ARGENTINA: »Hundert Augen«

Novel. Translated from Spanish by Marianne Gareis. Suhrkamp, 252 pages

Weltempfänger 49 / Winter 2020



P. Sivakami INDIA: »Die Zeiten ändern sich«

Novel. Translated from English by Thomas Vogel. Draupadi Verlag, 152 pages

Weltempfänger 48 / Fall 2020



Wilma Stockenström SOUTHAFRICA: »Der siebte Sinn ist der Schlaf«

Novel. Translated from the English version of J. M. Coetzee by von Renate Stendhal. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, 160 pages.

Weltempfänger 47 / Summer 2020