The Internationaler Literaturpreis 2023 goes to Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Holger Fock and Sabine Müller

For the novel Die geheimste Erinnerung der Menschen (Hanser, 2022) author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr and translators Holger Fock and Sabine Müller are awarded the Internationale Literaturpreis 2023.

The winners were announced at an award ceremony on 9 September 2023 in the Forough Farrokhzad Garden at Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW).

For the fifteenth time, HKW and the foundation Elementarteilchen award the Internationaler Literaturpreis. The award of €35,000—€20,000 for the author and €15,000 for the translator—honours an outstanding work of contemporary international literature that has been translated into German for the first time. In this way, the prize recognizes both the original work and the work of translation. This dual focus makes the prize unique to Germany, building on the existing legacy of a prize that continues to expand upon an understanding of heterogeneous forms of storytelling. This year, first translations of international poetry into German were also permitted.

From the jury’s statement:

‘Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s novel locates oral storytelling in the world of the literary. And it does so full of wit, eroticism, and intellectual depth, in an elegant and breathtakingly knowledgeable way. Sarr’s masterpiece is a stunning reflection on literature, the freedom of the writer, including his freedom to remain silent. Ultimately, it is as much about the journey towards words, love, grief, and oneself as it is about the failure of this search for one’s innermost secrets, the inscrutability of humanity itself.
The translation by Sabine Müller and Holger Fock effortlessly allows the daring of Sarr’s imagination and the elegance of his sentences to radiate. Rather, with admirable ease, the translators have succeeded in enriching the German language with a narrative that culminates in Germany’s history of violence. Sarr’s pace and wit come through in the language of Müller and Fock, as does the delicateness and intellectual power of his novel.’
—Asal Dardan and Deniz Utlu for the jury

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was born in Dakar and grew up in Senegal and studied literature and philosophy in France. To date he as published three novels, for which he was awarded the Prix Stéphane Hessel and the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, among others. For The Most Secret Memory of Men, his first work to appear in German translation, he received the Prix Goncourt in 2021.

Holger Fock and Sabine Müller work collaboratively to translate French literature into German. Authors they have translated include Mathias Énard, Alain Mabanckou, Patrick Deville, and Olivier Rolin. In 2011, they were awarded the Eugen Helmlé Translator’s Prize, and in 2023 they receive the Paul Celan Prize for their body of translation work.

Die geheimste Erinnerung der Menschen

Novel. Carl Hanser Verlag, 2022
441 pages, hardcover bound
Price: €27.00
French: La plus secrète mémoire des hommes
Interforum Editis, 2021

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr masterfully tells a story about the search for a lost author: when the young Senegalese Diégane gets hold of a cult book that was thought to be lost, he embarks on a search for its enigmatic author T.C. Elimane. Celebrated as the ‘Black Rimbaud’ in the 1930s, after being subject to racist hostility and caught in a scandal he went into hiding. Who was he? Addictively told and with inimitable irony, Sarr takes the reader on a labyrinthine journey spanning three continents. A masterful coming-of-age novel, gripping crime story, and an urgent examination of the complex legacy of colonialism, this is a book that dares much—and triumphs.

Further information about the book.

The Jury this year includes Ibou Coulibaly Diop, Asal Dardan, Ricardo Domeneck, Juliane Liebert, Ronya Othmann, Khuê Phạm and Deniz Utlu.

Further information: hkw.de/literatureaward
Press photos: hkw.de/pressphotos

More photos on request.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We are happy to arrange interview and review requests.

Partner

The Internationaler Literaturpreis is awarded by Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the foundation Elementarteilchen (Hamburg).

Visit Information

Opening Times
Wed.–Mon. 12:00–19:00
Extended opening hours during evening programmes.

Free admission on Mondays and on every first Sunday of the month (Museumssonntag Berlin).

Childcare with programme
HKW offers free childcare for many of its programmes. For further information visit hkw.de

Current information about visiting and accessibility.

Weltwirtschaft Restaurant is open daily, from 12:00–00:00 on weekdays and 10:00–00:00 on weekends.

Contact

Jan Trautmann

Pressesprecher
Lead Communications Officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

T: + 49 (0) 30 397 87 157
presse@hkw.de