Büchner Prize to Walter Kappacher

This year's Georg Büchner Prize, German-language literature's most prestigious award for a writer's entire work and worth €40,000, goes to Walter Kappacher. As Deutsche Welle reports, he is a "little-known Austrian author" inspired by Kafka and Beckett, as he appreciates books in which "nothing much 'happens'".

You can read a little taster from his most recent novel, Der Fliegenpalast (The Palace of Flies) at Lyrikwelt. Set in 1924, it is a portrait of the aging Hugo von Hoffmannsthal as he returns to the spa where he spent his summers as a child.

Peter Handke has sung Kappacher's praises as "a rare (writer)".

I'd say he's one to check out if you too like books with more contemplation than action.