Kim de l'Horizon wins Swiss Book Prize 2022 with "Blood Book
"Blood Book" is the name of the novel for which Kim de l'Horizon will receive the Swiss Book Prize 2022, the sponsors announced on Sunday. The prize was awarded as part of the Buch Basel literary festival.
The non-binary person Kim de l'Horizon has now won the Swiss Book Prize in addition to the German. The debut "Blood Book" is also number one on the Swiss bestseller list.
Kim de l'Horizon has created a non-binary narrative character who goes into her own childhood and traces her family history, the sponsorship writes. Kim de l'Horizon transforms "experience into literature - her own experience and the experience of her mother, grandmother and the women before her." Kim de l'Horizon tries out different languages, voices and registers - without giving an answer.
"Talk more about love"
At the award ceremony, Kim de l'Horizon thanked the audience with a kind of sung prayer, in which only love was to be mentioned. This after Kim de l'Horizon had been asked almost only about hate after the award of the German Book Prize. "I would like to talk less about hate and more about love," Kim de 'Horizon told Keystone-SDA, acknowledging that there was still much to be done on a societal level for the concerns of the LGBTQ+ community. In doing so, Kim de l'Horizon hoped that queer and feminist groups would work together to improve society as a whole with their shared concerns.
As for the actual writing process, Kim de l'Horizon said it was a long and difficult one. But it was worth it to "face your own dark spots. Only then can you leave them behind".
The award ceremony took place at the Theater Basel. The Swiss Book Prize is endowed with 30,000 Swiss francs for Kim de l'Horizon. The four other nominees Simon Fröhling ("Dürrst"), Lioba Happel ("Pommfritz aus der Hölle"), Thomas Hürlimann ("Der Rote Diamant") and Thomas Röthlisberger ("Steine zählen") each receive 3,000 Swiss francs.
"Books need publicity"
The sponsors of the Swiss Book Prize are the Literatur Basel association and the Swiss Book Trade and Publishing Association (SBVV). Eva Herzog, president of Literatur Basel, SP member of the Council of States and candidate for the Federal Council, lamented that cultural reporting in the media has shrunk more and more. "Books need publicity," she said. That, if nothing else, is what the book prize is for.
The Swiss Book Prize was also launched in 2008 as a marketing tool. The prize winner usually places - newly or again - at the top of the bestseller lists. The nominees also usually experience sales boosts. Since the Swiss Book Prize considers only German-language Swiss literature, the Swiss government does not support the award. A total of 88 titles from 58 publishers were submitted for the 15th Swiss Book Prize. (SDA/swi)
