Andreas Breitenstein receives Alfred Kerr Prize for Literary Criticism
NZZ literary critic Andreas Breitenstein is awarded the Alfred Kerr Prize for his outstanding achievement. The jury praises his accurate judgment and broad literary horizon.
The journalist and literary critic Andreas Breitenstein receives the Alfred Kerr Prize for Literary Criticism 2017. The jury emphasizes the expertise and breadth of knowledge with which the laureate conveys national literatures of the entire Eastern and Central European region. Attitude and standards distinguished his work in particular. In the jury's statement, it says: "One can rely on his exact judgment, because he always reads and judges against a broad horizon, knows how to classify books philosophically, historically and politically and to point beyond them. This also has political significance in the Europe of our days."
After studying German, philosophy and art history, Andreas Breitenstein worked as an advertising copywriter and freelance literary critic for the Zürichsee-Zeitung, the Tages-Anzeiger and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. From 1992, as a member of the NZZ feature section, he covered the literatures and cultures of Austria, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, Latin America, and Asia. Since 2016, Breitenstein has been working in the NZZ's "Opinion and Debate" department.
The Alfred Kerr Prize, donated by the trade magazine "Börsenblatt," is endowed with 5,000 euros and will be publicly awarded at the Leipzig Book Fair on March 23, 2017. The laudatory speech for Andreas Breitenstein will be given by the Austrian writer Norbert Gstrein.
Photo: NZZ
