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These are the nominees for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024

The jury for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024 has shortlisted eight titles for the award. Since the call for submissions went out, the seven members of the jury have reviewed 225 books published since April 2023 and submitted by 115 publishers.

Jury spokesperson Stefan Koldehoff, Deutschlandfunk, says about the nominees:

“When is a non-fiction book relevant? When does it broaden its readers’ horizons and open their eyes? When does it perhaps even manage to provide answers – both to the pressing questions of the present as well as to the timeless ones? These questions guided us as a jury in our selection of the nominees. Carefully researching the facts is one prerequisite. The other is an original idea that aspires to be understood by anyone who grapples with urgent and timeless questions: How can knowledge of the past help us to understand and shape the present? What systemic deficits prevent problems from being seriously addressed? Why do some myths persist so stubbornly? And is the threat to democracy also tied to an increasingly vulnerable society? Beyond all the many possible topics, what a good non-fiction book always needs is a connection to the present. Then it is relevant.”

The nominated non-fiction books of 2024

• Jens Beckert: Verkaufte Zukunft. Warum der Kampf gegen den Klimawandel zu scheitern droht (Suhrkamp)
• Sebastian Conrad: Die Königin. Nofretetes globale Karriere (Propyläen)
• Ruth Hoffmann: Das deutsche Alibi. Mythos „Stauffenberg-Attentat“ – wie der 20. Juli 1944 verklärt und politisch instrumentalisiert wird (Goldmann)
• Roman Köster: Müll. Eine schmutzige Geschichte der Menschheit (C.H.Beck)
• Christina Morina: Tausend Aufbrüche. Die Deutschen und ihre Demokratie seit den 1980er Jahren (Siedler)
• Frauke Rostalski: Die vulnerable Gesellschaft. Die neue Verletzlichkeit als Herausforderung der Freiheit (C.H.Beck)
• Marcus Willaschek: Kant. Die Revolution des Denkens (C.H.Beck)
• Moshe Zimmermann: Niemals Frieden? Israel am Scheideweg (Propyläen)

The jury of the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024

© Christof Jakob

f. l. t. r.: Michael Lemling, Patricia Rahemipour, Katrin Vohland, Julika Griem, Michael Hagner, Sibylle Anderl, Stefan Koldehoff

• Sibylle Anderl (DIE ZEIT)
• Julika Griem (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities [KWI] Essen)
• Michael Hagner (ETH Zurich)
• Stefan Koldehoff (Deutschlandfunk)
• Michael Lemling (“Buchhandlung Lehmkuhl” bookshop)
• Patricia Rahemipour (Institute for Museum Research, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation)
• Katrin Vohland (Natural History Museum Vienna)

About the German Non-Fiction Prize

This year, for the fourth time, the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) will award this prize, worth a total of 42,500 euros, to the original German-language edition of an outstanding non-fiction book that inspires social debate.

From the eight shortlisted titles, the jury will select the best non-fiction book of the year, which will be announced in Hamburg on 11 June 2024. The winner will receive 25,000 euros, the seven nominees 2,500 euros each. The awards ceremony will be held in the Small Hall of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg.

The Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation) is the main supporter of the prize, which is also backed by the city of Hamburg and Frankfurter Buchmesse. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth is patron of the prize.