Germany's top literature prize goes to Josef Winkler

The €40,000 prize will be awarded on November 1 at the academy’s autumn meeting in Darmstadt.

“Josef Winkler has reacted to the catastrophies of his Catholic village childhood in books with unrivalled obsessive urgency,” the academy said.

Winkler was born to a farming family March, 3, 1953 in Kärnten and has worked as a novelist since 1982. He lives in Klagenfurt where he teaches at the university.

Winkler has already been honoured with the Berlin Literature Prize, the Alfred Döblin prize and the André-Gide prize.

The Georg Büchner prize is awarded annually to German writers in memory of the German playwright who lived from 1813-1837.

Other winners include Erich Kästner, Max Frisch, Paul Celan and Heiner Müller.