Logo

26. Rheingau Literature Prize for Dörte Hansen

The Rheingau Literature Prize 2019, the 26th Rheingau Literature Prize, goes to the German writer Dörte Hansen for her novel "Mittagsstunde".

von links: Claus Wisser, Michael Herrmann, Dörte Hansen, Ayse Asar, Ernst-Udo Grossmann, Prof. Dr. Heiner Boehncke © RLF / Ansgar Klostermann

Jury's assessment

"Mittagsstunde" (Lunch hour) is a moving journey into lost time. With archaeological intuition Dörte Hansen brings the declining culture of a North German village community back to life. With masterful intensity she conjures up smells and noises of the rural world and thus succeeds in making the disappearance of this way of life a sensual experience.

Rheingau Literature Prize

The Rheingau Literature Prize is endowed with 11,111 euros and 111 bottles of best Rheingau Riesling and honors outstanding German-language prose of the last twelve months. The award, initiated by the Rheingau Literature Festival, was awarded this year for the twenty-sixth time. The original money prize of 10,000 Euro are donated in equal parts by the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts and by the Rheingau Musik Festival e.V. The main sponsor of the Rheingau Literature Festival, Relais + Châteaux Hotel Burg Schwarzenstein, raise the sum by EUR 1,111. The VDP Rheingau, the Association of German Prädikatsweingüter Rheingau, provides 111 bottles of the best Rheingau wines.

The Jury

  • Prof. Dr. Heiner Boehncke
    Artistic director of the Rheingau literature festival, publicist and literary scientist

  • Dr. Alf Mentzer
    Literary editor hr2-kultur

  • Dr. Viola Bolduan
    former head of feuilleton by Wiesbadener Kurier

  • Andreas Platthaus
    head of literature by F.A.Z.

  • Prof. Dr. Wilfried Schoeller
    publicist and literary scientist

The previous laureates

Stefanie Menzinger, „Schlangenbaden“ (1994)
Ulla Berkéwicz, „Mordad“(1995)
Herbert Maurer, „Ein Rabenflug“ (1996)
Thomas Meinecke, „Tomboy“ (1997)
Hella Eckert, „Hanomag“ (1998)
Thomas Lehr, „Nabokovs Katze“ (1999)
Peter Stamm, „Agnes“ und „Blitzeis“ (2000)
Bodo Kirchhoff, „Parlando“ (2001)
Robert Gernhardt, „Im Glück und anderswo“ (2002)
Reinhard Jirgl, „Die Unvollendeten“ (2003)
Ralf Rothmann, „Junges Licht“ (2004)
Gert Loschütz, „Dunkle Gesellschaft“ (2005)
Clemens Meyer, „Als wir träumten“ (2006)
Antje Rávic Strubel, „Kältere Schichten der Luft“ (2007)
Ursula Krechel, „Shanghai fern von wo“ (2008)
Christoph Peters, „Mitsukos Restaurant“ (2009)
Jochen Schimmang, „Das Beste, was wir hatten“ (2010)
Josef Haslinger, „Jáchymov” (2011)
Sten Nadolny, „Weitlings Sommerfrische“ (2012)
Ralph Dutli, „Soutines letzte Fahrt“ (2013)
Stephanie Bart, „Deutscher Meister“ (2014)
Klaus Modick, „Konzert ohne Dichter“ (2015)
Saša Stanišić, „Fallensteller" (2016)
Ingo Schulze, „Peter Holtz. Sein glückliches Leben erzählt von ihm selbst" (2017)
Robert Seethaler, „Das Feld" (2018)