Klopstock-Preis 2023 for Angela Steidele

Author Angela Steidele, PhD, has been awarded this year’s Klopstock-Preis for Contemporary Literature, endowed with 12,000 Euro, for her literary oeuvre.

Minister of State and Minister of State for Culture and Media Rainer Robra stated: »Angela Steidele writes impressive stories in which history is rewritten. When she writes about Bach’s daughter Catharina Dorothea, for example, and unfolds a panorama of the history of German music, literature and philosophy from Gottsched and Goethe to Klopstock, unforeseen perspectives open up to the reader. I congratulate Angela Steidele on winning this year’s Klopstock Prize.« The award ceremony will take place on August 31, 2023 in the World Heritage City of Quedlinburg.

Angela Steidele was born in Bruchsal in 1968. After studying cultural education (literature, music and philosophy), she earned a doctorate in literary studies at the University of Siegen. Her works of non-fiction, novels and prose texts repeatedly take readers to Central Germany. Since her first publications, female figures in history have been at the centre of her stories. In its statement, the jury emphasised Steideles’ outstanding talent »to interweave the factual with the fictional and create a great narrative. Through meticulous research and with great wit, she explores Central German history from a female perspective. Her literature is both feminist and political: Her masterful craft is making historical themes fruitful for our present. Hardly ever has a reflection on the idea of the Enlightenment been more necessary.«

The state of Saxony-Anhalt has been awarding the Klopstock-Preis for Contemporary Literature every year since 2015. It is the state’s highest award in the field of literature. The awards the prize to a German-language work written in the last four years or for an overall achievement of literary merit.

The prize is named after Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), born in Quedlinburg and one of the most important poets and literary figures of the Age of Enlightenment.

Previous prize winners include Ann Cotten (2015), Uwe Kolbe (2016), Thomas Melle (2017), Marion Poschmann (2018), Alexander Kluge (2019) Clemens Meyer (2020), Annett Gröschner (2021) and Matthias Jügler (2022).

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