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Author Stepanova: the work is »indissolubly anchored in the present and in the Russian language«, »at the same time an echo chamber of world literature«
Photo: Europa Press News/Getty Images
The Russian-Jewish author Maria Stepanova, who is currently living in exile in Germany, will receive the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding 2023. The city of Leipzig announced on Wednesday that she was being honored for her book of poetry »Girls Without Clothes«, which was published last year.
The prize is endowed with 20,000 euros and is one of the most important literary awards in Germany.
The jury honors the native of Moscow »for the absoluteness with which she insists on the poetic perception of the world«.
Stepanova's work is "indissolubly anchored in the present and in the Russian language" from Alexander Pushkin to Ossip Mandelstam to Marina Tsvetaeva and "at the same time an echo chamber of world literature, in which Dante, Goethe and Walt Whitman are just as present as Ezra Pound, Inger Christensen and Anne Carson".
Although she looks into the abyss in her poems, her great hope remains language.
»She gives non-imperial Russia a literary voice that deserves to be heard throughout Europe.«
In March 2022, Maria Stepanova was among the signatories of an appeal for Russian-speaking people to reveal to Russian citizens the truth about Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"Talk to the Russians," ended the call, which was also published in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung."
The book prize has been awarded annually since 1994 and is one of the most important literary awards in Germany.
It is to be awarded to Stepanova at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair on April 26, 2023 in the Gewandhaus.
feb/dpa
