Grand Prix Literature 2024 goes to author from canton Aargau

Writer Klaus Merz from canton Aargau is the 2024 winner of the Grand Prix for Swiss Literature. The Special Prize for Translation goes to Dorothea Trottenberg. Seven authors have also been honoured, including three French-speaking authors: Bessora, Jérémie Gindre and Ed Wige. Introspection and density of language are two characteristics of the work of Klaus Merz, now 79, explains the Federal Office of Culture in a press release on Thursday. Since his first collection of poems, Mit gesammelter Blindheit (with collected blindness) (1967), he has written a multifaceted oeuvre: poetry, prose (stories, short stories, short novels and essays), plays, radio plays and children's books. The short novel Frère Jacques (1997) brought him international recognition. His thirty or so books have now been brought together in a complete edition. And he is still writing, with firma (company) (2019) and Noch Licht im Haus (there is still light in the house) (2023). A frequent award-winner, he has been ...