Terézia Mora wins the German Book Prize 2013 for her novel "Das Ungeheuer"

Frankfurt am Main (ots) -

The Börsenverein honours the year's best German-language novel

Award ceremony held before 300 guests at the Frankfurt Römer The
winner of the German Book Prize 2013 is Terézia Mora for her novel
"Das Ungeheuer" (Luchterhand).

Statement from the jury:

A dark thread runs through the text of Terézia Mora's novel "Das
Ungeheuer" ("Monster"), which tells the story of married couple
Darius Kopp and Flora. He was an everyman who loved his wife more
than anything - albeit hopelessly - and who was overwhelmed by her
illness and depression. Flora took her own life, leaving Kopp behind
with an urn filled with her ashes and a file in which his Hungarian
wife had kept a diary of her disease. He sets off on a journey
through Eastern Europe, in search of a home for the ashes and for his
despair. His travels take him from Hungary to Croatia to Albania and
beyond, until he finally descends upon Greece. "Das Ungeheuer" is
both a stylistically brilliant obituary that is rich in perspective
and a spirited road novel set in modern-day Eastern Europe. Terézia
Mora adopts a radical approach to offer a voice to the deceased Flora
and her suffering, which she was unable to share with Darius. Beneath
the dark thread, her diary can be read as a complement to Darius'
travel story - a mosaic of autobiographical and medical sketches on
the subject of depression. As a writer, Mora succeeds in interweaving
two text forms and two characters who failed each other in life.
Terézia Mora combines a keen awareness of literary form with a
capacity for empathy. "Das Ungeheuer" is a deeply moving novel that
offers its own diagnosis of the contemporary age.

Jury members for the German Book Prize 2013 include: Helmut
Böttiger (independent critic, jury spokesman), Katrin Lange
(Literaturhaus Munich), Ursula März (Die Zeit), Jörg Plath
(independent critic), Andreas Platthaus (Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung), Klaus Seufer-Wasserthal (Rupertus Buchhandlung, Salzburg,
Austria) and Claudia Voigt (Der Spiegel).

The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Stiftung - the
Foundation of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association -
awarded the German Book Prize 2013 to the best German-language title
of the year to coincide with the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Additional information about the winner and her appearances during
the Frankfurt Book Fair can be found at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de.

Contact for the media:
Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V.
Claudia Paul, Director, Press and Public Relations
Telephone +49 (0) 69 1306-293,
E-mail: paul@boev.de

Thomas Koch, Press Officer
Telephone +49 (0) 69 1306-292,
E-mail: t.koch@boev.de