Trauma text competition: Sila wins Bachmann Prize

Klagenfurt - Trauma text competition: Sila wins Bachmann Prize

Family Wounds, Which Have Not Healed Across Generations, Have Thematically Shaped the Annual Competition for the Renowned Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.

The author Tijan Sila, who hails from Sarajevo and lives in Kaiserslautern, prevailed in the Austrian Klagenfurt jury's broad favorite field. For his text with the self-explanatory title "The Day My Mother Went Insane," he received the main prize. The award, which the city of Klagenfurt bestows, is worth 25,000 Euro and named after the local literary figure Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973).

Born in 1981, Sila recounts not only a mother who suddenly becomes schizophrenic but also a father who descends into a pathological hoarding syndrome. The horrors of the Bosnian War are described in parts as harrowing, in parts comically - for instance, with an aunt who is killed by a grenade while nursing her newborn, or with the destroyed office of the mother, which looks "like a microwave in which a spoonful of moussaka had exploded."

As a refugee in Germany

Philipp Tingler, the juror, spoke in his speech for Sila not only about his unique linguistic "mixture of precision, tragicomedy, and melancholy," but also about the story's structure, which does not end in despair, but with a rebellion against the passing of parents' pain to children. After receiving the award, Sila struggled for words. "I'm still not quite getting it, but I'm euphoric nonetheless," he said.

Sila came to Germany as a refugee in 1994. In Heidelberg, he studied Germanistics and English. Today, he not only writes but also teaches as a teacher in a school. His latest book "Radio Sarajevo" about surviving in the besieged city was published last year; his Bachmann-text is part of his next novel.

Other Prize Winners

A number of other trauma narratives were also in contention at this year's Bachmann Competition. Tamara Stajner, who hails from Slovenia and resides in Vienna, won the 10,000 Euro Kelag Prize on Sunday for "Air Down Below." The text, which is addressed to a loving, violent, and mentally ill mother, moved Stajner so much during her reading that she almost broke down in tears. Denis Pfabe, a Bonn author and forklift driver, described in "The Possibility of Order" a man who tries to cope with the loss of a child by managing excessive orders in a gardening store. For this, he received the 12,500 Euro Deutschlandfunk Prize.

Henrik Szantos' artful language kaleidoscope "A Staircase of Paper," in which the dead and living residents of a house are mixed up - from the Nazi era to the present, remained unrecognized. Miedya Mahmod's radically linguistic text "We Don't Want to Express It Badly. Or: Ba,Da," in which war, injuries, and family play a role, also went unrewarded. Despite the thematic weight, all these excellent and mediocre texts showed a desire to overcome historical and historical traumas.

The audience rewards Cucumber Madness

The audience awarded the "Cucumber Madness" prize to a text by the author Anja Pistor. In her work, she humorously and poignantly explores the theme of the passing of pain from parents to children. The text was chosen by the audience through a vote.

A candidate instead opted for relieving laughter instead of shock and was rewarded with the audience prize and the 3sat prize: Johanna Sebauer convinced in Klagenfurt with her satire "The Gurklerl," in which a spritzer of pickled gherkins in the eye of a journalist sets off a media and societal escalation spiral about sauerkraut geese as a topic. The Austrian-born and Hamburg-residing author joked on Sunday that gherkins were no longer on her menu for the time being. "It could be that I need a break after this gherkin madness," she said.

1. Tijan Sila, an author from Sarajevo now living in Kaiserslautern, triumphed in the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize competition held in Austria's Klagenfurt.
2. Sila's winning entry, titled "The Day My Mother Went Insane," showcased his distinctive style of precision, tragicomedy, and melancholy.
3. The Jury, impressed by Sila's unique storytelling and structure, recognized his text as a rebellion against the inheritance of parents' pain to children.
4. Born in 1981, Sila experienced personal trauma as a refugee in Germany, an experience that shaped much of his work.
5. His latest novel, "Radio Sarajevo," was published last year, and the Bachmann-text forms part of his upcoming novel.
6. Tamara Stajner, a Slovenian author living in Vienna, won the Kelag Prize worth 10,000 Euros for her traumatic narrative "Air Down Below."
7. Denis Pfabe, a Bonn author and forklift driver, received the Deutschlandfunk Prize worth 12,500 Euros for his text "The Possibility of Order."
8. Despite the thematic weight, some excellent and mediocre texts didn't receive any awards, including Henrik Szantos' "A Staircase of Paper" and Miedya Mahmod's "We Don't Want to Express It Badly."
9. Anja Pistor, a German author, was awarded the audience's "Cucumber Madness" prize for her work exploring generational pain with humor and emotion.
10. Instead of shock, the audience opted for relieving laughter and rewarded Johanna Sebauer, who used gherkins to create a societal and media escalation spiral in her satire "The Gurklerl."
11. Sila's victory in the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize competition highlights the competition's focus on generational trauma and the literature's role in addressing these wounds.

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