German author Lena Schätte wins literary Bachmann Prize

German author Lena Schätte has won the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, ahead of 13 other contenders, the jury announced on Sunday. 

The author from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia won the prize worth €30,000 ($34,168). 

Schätte, 32, won the reading competition with her text "Was wir tragen" (What We Carry), in which she depicts, with unflinching honesty, the friendship between two overweight secondary schoolgirls who navigate life as social outsiders. Schätte also received the audience prize.

Juror Thomas Strässle described the text as possessing "existential force" in his tribute, praising Schätte for exploring exclusion without accusation or moralizing.

"It's like a fever dream," the author said after her victory. She worked as a psychiatric nurse before enrolling at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig in 2020.

Among other awards at one of the premier events for German literature, Hungarian poet and performance artist Kinga Tóth was awarded the €15,000 Kelag Prize for her musically performed text "OstblockMädl" (Eastern Bloc Girl), which explores labour migration, identity and language.

The multi-day reading competition has been held annually since 1977.  

The main prize is awarded by the city of Klagenfurt, honouring Austrian author Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973), who would have turned 100 on June 25. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential German-language authors of the 20th century.

Last year's award went to Austrian writer and performance artist Natascha Gangl for her poetic work "DA STA" (The Stone), in which she tracks down a Nazi crime that took place towards the end of World War II in her home city near the Slovenian border.