This year, the Wolfgang Koeppen Prize for Literature, awarded by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald, is to be presented to the author and editor Charlotte Gneuß.

The Wolfgang Koeppen Prize for Literature, awarded by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald, is to be presented this year to the author and editor Charlotte Gneuß. She was nominated by the author, musician and performance artist Madame Nielsen, the 2024 prize winner.
This prize has been awarded every two years on 23 June since 1998 for literary work which, much like Wolfgang Koeppen’s own, is linked to the unfinished project of literary modernism, remains mindful of its contemporaneity and, not least, is comparable to Koeppen’s work in terms of its social sensitivity. The prize, which carries a cash award of 5,000 euros, is not awarded by a jury; instead, the most recent laureate nominates the next recipient.
The Wolfgang Koeppen Prize has so far been awarded to: †Richard Anders (1998), Thomas Lehr (2000), Susanne Riedel (2002), †Ludwig Fels (2004), Bartholomäus Grill (2006), Sibylle Berg (2008), Joachim Lottmann (2010), Anna Katharina Hahn (2012), Karl-Heinz Ott (2014), Thomas Hettche (2016), Christoph Peters (2018), Marcus Braun (2020), Christian Kracht (2022) and Madame Nielsen (2024).

Madame Nielsen justifies her nomination with the following words:
‘I have read Charlotte Gneuß’s debut novel *Gittersee*, and although it is heavily inspired by the early works of Handke, it nevertheless has its own (dark) tone and meets the criteria (of the Wolfgang Koeppen Prize) in every respect. … And so I shall – I think – yes, I now dare to nominate Charlotte Gneuß as the Koeppen Prize winner for 2026.”