The 2022 Shortlist

The works on this year’s shortlist show what literature is capable of when it directly addresses the reader’s consciousness. They reveal language itself. They illuminate our understanding of temporality and reality by transcending it, captivating us with their accuracy in looking, in describing, in telling. The powerful translations potentiate their diversity of voices: They simultaneously grasp and transcend the reader’s relationship to the regions they describe. These are works that do not shy away from taking on the conflicts of our time and they show us the power of nature in the struggle against destructive humanity.

– Michael Götting for the jury