Awarded by a Franco-German jury, it renews the literary and intellectual dialogue between these two countries by rewarding contemporary authors still unknown in the neighbouring country and who, with some exceptions, have not yet been translated. It bears the name of the writer and translator Franz Hessel (1880-1941) who, through his life and work, played a role of cultural mediator between the two countries.
The Franz Hessel Prize is funded by the German Federal Delegation for Culture and Media (BKM) and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. The German Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann and the French Minister of Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterrand will present the Franz Hessel Prize to the two winners on 8 December in Paris.
The French jury: Nils C. Ahl (journalist and literary critic), Francesca Isidori (journalist and literary critic), Christine de Mazières (general delegate of the Syndicat National de l'Edition), Augustin Trapenard (journalist and literary critic) and Guy Walter (Director of Villa Gillet, Director of Subsistances).
The German jury: Hatice Akyün (journalist and writer), Thorsten Dönges (programme manager at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin), Hans-Peter Kunisch (journalist and writer), Petra Metz (literary critic) and Ulrike Vedder (Professor, Humboldt University, Berlin).
Thomas Melle was born in 1975 in Bonn and lives in Berlin. He studied comparative literature and philosophy in Tübingen, Austin (Texas) and Berlin. He translated William T. Vollmann, published several plays as well as the Raumforderung collection of narratives. In his first novel Sickster (Rowohlt, 2011), he explores the madness of today’s Berlin, leading his reader into a nightlife where sex, alcohol and drugs play the leading role. In a condensed and analytical style, Sickster paints a virtuoso and moving portrait of the contemporary era.
Born in 1969, Céline Minard studied philosophy before devoting herself to writing. Author of several novels and stories, she was a resident of Villa Medici in 2007 and 2008, and Villa Kujoyama in 2011. His novel Bastard Battle (Léo Scheer, 2008) received the Wepler Prize - La Poste Foundation special mention.
In 2011, she jointly published Les Ales (Cambourakis) in collaboration with visual artist Scomparo and So long, Luise (Denoël) : the testamentary work of an old novelist who once again amuses herself by blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
Crossed by the fairy tale, the western, the memories and the fantastical creatures in different degrees, this testament opens on a multitude of galleries and echo rooms that resonate from a life already lived, put in play and reactivated in writing.