Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding

The Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding is one of the most prestigious literature prizes in Germany. It has been awarded annually since 1994 and comes with prize money of 20,000 euros. The prize committee includes the Free State of Saxony, the City of Leipzig, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V. (The German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and Leipziger Messe. Cooperation partner is the Federal Agency for Civid Education.

The prize will be awarded at the opening ceremony of Leipzig Book Fair on the evening of 18 March 2026 at the Gewandhaus Leipzig. The event starts at 7pm and will be streamed live on our homepage.

Portrait of Miljenko Jergovi, Copyright: Ivan Posavec
Miljenko Jergović (image source: © Ivan Posavec)

The Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding 2026 is awarded to Miljenko Jergović

The 2026 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding goes to the Croatian-Bosnian author Miljenko Jergović for his short stories Das verrückte Herz. Sarajevo Marlboro Remastered [The Crazy Heart. Sarajevo Marlboro Remastered]. The book is published by Suhrkamp Verlag. The text was translated from Croatian by Brigitte Döbert.

Portrait of Barbi Markovic, Copyright: Marija Sabanovic
Barbi Marković (image source: © Marija Sabanovic)

The laudatory speech will be given by Serbian-Austrian writer Barbi Marković.

Statement from the jury:

The Jury’s verdict reads: “The 2026 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding goes to Croatian-Bosnian writer Miljenko Jergović, whose narrative work shows great determination in exploring the fault lines of Western Balkan history. War experiences are at the heart of everything, from sweeping family panoramas to offbeat road movies and a thoughtful portrait of his father.”

The Jury continues: “The Siege of Sarajevo, where the author was born in 1966, is the focus of his latest collection of short stories, Das verrückte Herz (The Crazy Heart), which is also a self-commentary on his early collection Marlboro Sarajevo. An agitating neighbour defects to the besiegers, a young man can no longer wear his lucky underpants, the whistling of grenades awakens memories of flagpoles by the sea, two Art Nouveau vases survive bomb blasts and yet are broken later on. Sometimes drastic, occasionally relentless and then poetic, the writer focuses on the injuries meted out on individuals and the devastation of society. With his attention to inconspicuous details and fragments, he aesthetically defies gross simplifications and the dangers of nationalism.”

Critical and fair: the jury

  • Dr Skadi Jennicke (Mayor for Culture of the City of Leipzig, Jury chair)
  • Dr Maike Albath (literary critic and author)
  • Dr Katja Gasser (Head of the Literature Department at ORF-TV and literary critic)
  • Michael Lemling (manager of the book shop Lehmkuhl)
  • Dr Lothar Müller (literary critic and journalist)

Previous award winners

  • 2025: Alhierd Bacharevič (Belarus)
  • 2024: Omri Boehm (Germany-Israel)
  • 2023: Maria Stepanova (Russia)
  • 2022: Karl-Markus Gauss (Austria)
  • 2021: Johny Pitts (Great Britain)
  • 2020: László Földényi (Hungary)
  • 2019: Masha Gessen (USA)
  • 2018: Åsne Seierstad (Norway)
  • 2017: Mathias Énard (France)
  • 2016: Heinrich August Winkler (Germany)
  • 2015: Mircea Cărtărescu (Romania)
  • 2014: Pankaj Mishra (India)
  • 2013: Klaus-Michael Bogdal (Germany)
  • 2012: Ian Kershaw und Timothy Snyder (Great Britain and USA)
  • 2011: Martin Pollack (Austria)
  • 2010: György Dalos (Germany)
  • 2009: Karl Schlögel (Germany)
  • 2008: Geert Mak (Netherlands)
  • 2007: Gerd Koenen (Germany) und Michail Ryklin (Russia)
  • 2006: Juri Andruchowytsch (Ukraine)
  • 2005: Slavenka Drakulić (Croatia), lebt in Stockholm, Wien und Sovinjak (Croatia)
  • 2004: Dževad Karahasan (Bosnia & Herzegovina), lebt in Graz und Sarajevo
    (Recognition Award: Gábor Csordás, Hungary)
  • 2003: Hugo Claus (Belgium)
    (Recognition Award: Barbara Antkowiak, Germany)
  • 2002: Bora Ćosić (Croatia), lebt in Rovinj (Croatia) und Berlin
    (Recognition Award: Ludvik Kundera, Czech Republic)
  • 2001: Claudio Magris (Italy)
    (Recognition Award: Norbert Randow, Germany)
  • 2000: Hanna Krall (Poland)
    (Recognition Award: Peter Urban, Germany)

Contact

Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding
c/o City of Leipzig, Dezernat Kultur
Karin Rolle-Bechler

Phone: +49 341 123-4207
Email: buchpreis@leipzig.de
Website: www.leipzig.de/buchpreis

Media contact:

For review copies and appointments with the award winner before the start of the Leipzig Book Fair:
Nicole Herrschmann
Suhrkamp Verlag
Phone: +49 30 740744-292
Email: herrschmann@suhrkamp.de