Hermann Kesten Prize
| Hermann Kesten Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | outstanding efforts in support of persecuted writers |
| Sponsored by | Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts |
| Country | Germany |
| Presented by | PEN Centre Germany |
| Formerly called | Hermann Kesten Medal |
| Reward | €20,000 |
| Website | kesten |
The Hermann Kesten Prize (German: Hermann-Kesten-Preis), formally the Hermann Kesten Medal (German: Hermann-Kesten-Medaille), is a German literary award presented annually for outstanding efforts in support of persecuted writers, on behalf of PEN Centre Germany according to the principles of the Charter of International PEN. In 1985, the PEN Center of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded the first Hermann Kesten Medal. It is named in honor of the German novelist and dramatist Hermann Kesten (1900–1996).
Until 1993, it was awarded every two years, since 1994 it has been given annually. As of 2025, the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts has endowed the award with a prize of €20,000.
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world.
Prize winners
Source:[1]
- 1985: Bishop Helmut Frentz
- 1987: Kathleen von Simson
- 1989: Angelika Mechtel
- 1991: Christa Bremer
- 1993: Johannes Mario Simmel
- 1994: Carola Stern
- 1995: Günter Grass
- 1996: Victor Pfaff
- 1997: SAID
- 1998: Hermann Schulz
- 1999: Alexander Tkatshenko
- 2000: Nenad Popovic
- 2001: Harold Pinter
- 2002: Sumaya Farhat Naser and Gila Svirsky
- 2003: Anna Politkovskaya
- 2004: Bunt statt Braun
- 2005: Journaliste en danger
- 2006: Leonie Ossowski
- 2007: Hrant Dink
- 2008: Memorial
- 2009: Baltasar Garzón
- 2010: Liu Xiaobo
- 2011: Egyptian Publisher Mohammed Hashim[2]
- 2012: Iryna Khalip (Iрына Халiп) Belarusian Journalist
- 2013: Index on Censorship
- 2014: Wolfgang Kaleck[3]
- 2015: Gefangenes Wort e.V. and Madjid Mohit
- 2016: Translate for Justice
- 2017: Thomas B. Schumann
- 2018: Gioconda Belli
- 2019: Philippe Lançon
- 2020: Günther Wallraff[4]
- 2021: Irena Brežná[5][6]
- 2022: Meena Kandasamy[7]
- 2023: Joan Manuel Serrat
- 2024: Fabio Stassi[8]
- 2025: Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback[9]
See also
- German literature
- List of literary awards
- List of poetry awards
- List of years in literature
- List of years in poetry
References
- ^ "Award winners of the Hermann Kesten-Award". Retrieved 28 April 2018.
- ^ Stefan Weidner. "A Father of the Revolution", Qantara.de, 9 December 2011
- ^ "Profile /biography of Wolfgang Kaleck". European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ^ "Hermann Kesten-Preis für Günter Wallraff". Donaukurier (in German). Ingolstadt. dpa. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Irena Brežná erhält Kesten-Preis des deutschen PEN am 18.11. in Darmstadt". PEN-Zentrum Deutschland (in German). 9 November 2021. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
- ^ "Kesten-Preis an Irena Brežná". Börsenblatt (in German). 17 August 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
- ^ Manasi Gopalakrishnan. "Indian author Meena Kandasamy to receive PEN Germany prize". Deutsche Welle. 19 September 2022.
- ^ "Fabio Stassi gewinnt Hermann-Kesten-Preis des PEN". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Kesten-Preis würdigt Philosophin Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback". wdr.de, 4 September 2025 (in German). Retrieved 4 September 2025.