Shida Bazyar has been awarded the 2026 German Book Prize for her novel “Die Lücken” (Omissions). In her acceptance speech, the author spoke candidly about the situation in Germany.
As widely predicted, Shida Bazyar has taken this year’s German Book Prize for Die Lücken (Omissions), a novel that seems to tick all the right boxes for Germany in 2026. “Bazyar has redefined the Heimatroman,” jury member Maha El Hissy said in a short tribute screened at the award ceremony. And it’s easy to see why: Die Lücken offers a richly varied portrait of German society.A Town's Hidden History
In her third novel, Bazyar ventures deep into the provincial heartland of western Germany, to the Hunsrück region, following the lives of the inhabitants of Heimesbach, a fictional town modelled on Bazyar’s birthplace, Hermeskeil. She describes how Jewish life vanishes from the town and how post-war Germany confronts the Holocaust, or more precisely, looks away. And she traces the past through to the present day, where refugee families now come face to face with the descendants of Nazis.There is no reason to doubt the author when she says she pursued her hometown’s history almost obsessively. In a video shown to the shortlisted nominees beforehand, she compared her experience to the shock of discovering that a beloved grandfather had been a Nazi.
One hundred years of German history is presented in this novel, above all, as a history of violence. Bazyar powerfully illustrates how violence is passed down through generations in the behaviour of the children of Heimesbach, who mirror the adults around them. “And because there was no place for fear in that time or in the world of these children, she chose resentment instead,” the novel says at one point. “Her parents had taught her that; she knew it well.”
Little joy in Bazyar’s acceptance speech
Bazyar reacted to the announcement with composure and spoke at length after receiving the prize certificate. Her acceptance speech in the Kaisersaal of Frankfurt’s historic city hall was hardly joyful, and she said herself that joy would have felt inappropriate. After all, she noted, Die Lücken is a novel about people who were persecuted and killed.The author drew attention to the country’s bleak political climate, pointing out that antisemitic and racist crimes have reached record levels and that there is currently no minority group in Germany free from threat. Nor did she shy away from saying where that threat comes from. She referred to deportations that are being discussed openly for the first time since 1945, even if they are not always called by that name. “The problem,” she said, quoting Hannah Arendt, was not “what our enemies did in 1933, but what our friends did”.
Shortlist: from the East Germany to climate activism
Alongside Shida Bazyar, this year’s nominees were Franziska Gänsler for Orca, Valeria Gordeev for Die Zikade entschlüpft ihrer goldglänzenden Hülle, Elias Hirschl for Schleifen, Peggy Mädler for Selbstregulierung des Herzens and Dana Vowinckel for Anton und Alma. Thematically, the list was wide-ranging, spanning East German subculture, tensions in German-Jewish relationships, provincial small-town life and climate activism.As is tradition, the ceremony took place on the eve of Frankfurt Book Fair, where many of the nominated authors, along with countless others, will be appearing over the coming days. The winner, of course, will be the most visible of them all.
October 2026