German Book Prize 2025: six novels on the shortlist

The jury has shortlisted the following six novels for the German Book Prize 2025:

• Dorothee Elmiger: Die Holländerinnen (Carl Hanser Verlag, August 2025)
• Kaleb Erdmann: Die Ausweichschule (park x ullstein, July 2025)
• Jehona Kicaj: ë (Wallstein Verlag, July 2025)
• Thomas Melle: Haus zur Sonne (Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, August 2025)
• Fiona Sironic: Am Samstag gehen die Mädchen in den Wald und jagen Sachen in die Luft (Ecco Verlag, March 2025)
• Christine Wunnicke: Wachs (Berenberg Verlag, March 2025)

Regarding this selection, jury spokesperson Laura de Weck (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen) states: “It’s no coincidence that the 2025 shortlist peers into psychological, social and political abysses: whether tentatively, meditatively, with humour or with radicalism, the works are always deeply literary. As different as their narrative voices and styles may be, the novels seem to converse with one another – around themes such as violence, but also tenderness. In Kicaj’s novel, war crimes still grind between people’s teeth decades later; in Erdmann’s, a shooting spree alters the psychology of an entire city; and Melle’s manic literary ride asks how self-determined modern humans really are. Sironic tackles the deepening climate crisis with both verve and love, while Wunnicke follows two women in pre-revolutionary France who flout every convention, and Elmiger paints the darkness that closes in when women suddenly disappear. Sound bleak? Not at all. Every book on this shortlist is a liberating experience.”

Since the submission process began, the seven members of the jury have reviewed 229 titles published between October 2024 and 16 September 2025. In addition to Laura de Weck, the members of the jury are: Maria Carolina Foi (University of Trieste), Jürgen Kaube (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Friedhelm Marx (University of Bamberg), Kathrin Matern (“Frau Rilke” bookshop, Neustrelitz), Lara Sielmann (Deutschlandfunk Kultur) and Shirin Sojitrawalla (independent critic). 

The Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) awards the German Book Prize to the best German-language novel of the year. The winner will receive 25,000 euros, the five finalists 2,500 euros each. The award ceremony will take place in the Kaisersaal of the Frankfurt Römer on 13 October 2025, to coincide with the start of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, and will be broadcast live. Those interested can watch the ceremony at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de.

The radio stations Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur will also broadcast the event live via the special “Dokumente und Debatten” channel on digital radio and as a live stream on Dokumente und Debatten | deutschlandradio.de.

Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation) is the main sponsor of the German Book Prize, and Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners. 

From early October, the website www.new-books-in-german.com will feature English translations of excerpts from the shortlisted titles, along with an English-language dossier about the shortlist. 

The hashtag for the German Book Prize is #dbp25 

Downloads

Press photo and information about the nominated titles for download