The Adelbert von Chamisso Prize for "non-German authors writing in the German language" has been awarded to the Luxemburg-born poet Jean Krier. The emerging author prizes go to Olga Martynova and Nicol Ljubic.
I haven't read any of Krier's poetry but you can see what I thought of the other two in my overview of the last German Book Prize longlist. Which was conspicuously full of writers born elsewhere, as I've pointed out in the past. Which again makes me wonder whether we still need the Chamisso Prize, were it not for the good stuff that goes along with it such as events in schools. Which brings me to the subject of who cares where anyone's from anyway. But I'm too tired to rant today.
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I think they should keep the Chamisso Prize, but only give it to those who _didn't_ grow up in a *country bordering on the Bundesrepublik.* Hello?
Luxembourgers have it easy when it comes to learning German. Not quite as easy as those from the Netherlands, but still ... how about someone from Somalia, or the United States, or China writing in German?
Really.
Letzebourgisch to German is like ... well, it's not that easy, but most of them start in the 1st or 2nd grade. It would be like the States giving a prize for best foreign author writing in English to someone from a former British colony.
(How's that for a rant?)
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