Ursula Krechel will receive the coveted Georg Büchner Prize in 2025!

Ursula Krechel will receive the coveted Georg Büchner Prize in 2025!

Ursula Krechel is the new winner of the Georg Büchner Prize 2025. The 77-year-old writer, who lives in Berlin, was honored by the German Academy for Language and Poetry for her extensive literary work, which deals intensively with topics such as escape, exile and feminism. These aspects of her work are particularly important in the light of current social discourses.

The award ceremony will take place on November 1, 2025 at the State Theater in Darmstadt. The Georg Büchner Prize, worth an impressive 50,000 euros, is one of the most important awards in German-speaking countries and has been awarded since 1951. What is special about this prize is not only the financial recognition, but also the high status it has in the literary world. Krechel impressed the jury with her texts, which often reflect the devastation of German history. In her work she encourages us to recognize the traces of the past in everyday life and to deal with them.

A work of depth and meaning

Ursula Krechel made her debut in 1974 with the play “Erika” and has since published numerous works, including poems, plays, radio plays, novels and essays. Her best-known works include the novel trilogy “Shanghai far from where” (2008), “Landgericht” (2012), for which she received the German Book Prize in 2012, and “Ghost Railway” (2018). Her most recent novel, “Dear Minister,” and the volume of poetry “On Cardiac Asthma of Exile,” both published in 2025, once again demonstrate her ability to address complex social issues.

Krechel, who originally comes from Trier, studied German, theater studies and art history at the University of Cologne. Her doctorate on the theater critic Herbert Ihering laid the foundation for a career that she spent, among other things, as a dramaturg at the Dortmund Municipal Theater. Over the years, she has distinguished herself not only as an author, but also as a valued teacher, including as a visiting professor at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig and at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

A rich heritage

Ursula Krechel is not only the winner of the Georg Büchner Prize, but also a prime example of the combination of art and social commitment. She was active as a co-founder of PEN Berlin, sat on the board for a long time and was honorary president of the PEN Center Germany in 2022. Her membership in various academies of the arts underlines her relevance in Germany's literary landscape.

With a list of previous prize winners that includes greats such as Max Frisch, Günter Grass and Heinrich Böll, the Georg Büchner Prize sets standards in the German literary scene. A prize that not only celebrates weddings, but also enriches cultural discourse. Krechel, who also sees the prize money as support for her artistic work, will continue to expand the importance of her voice in literature and possibly find new ways of engaging with German history and society.

Deutschlandfunk reports that the prize is financed by the federal government, the state of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt. The previous award winner, Oswald Egger, leaves behind big shoes that Krechel will certainly fill in her own way. She will certainly be in the spotlight in the coming months, and it will be interesting to see what new texts she will present to us.