Nov 25, 2024

Simoné Goldschmidt-Lechner receives the Hamburger Literaturpreis

Simoné Goldschmidt-Lechner. Photo: Nicole Benewaah

This year’s winners of the Hamburger Literaturpreise of the Ministry of Culture and Media have been announced: In the Book of the Year category (no personal submissions possible), an independent jury selected the novella Ich kann dich noch sehen (an diesen Tagen) by author Simoné Goldschmidt-Lechner, published by Matthes & Seitz. The Akademie Schloss Solitude celebrates with its current fellow (sphere of practice: Textual) and warmly congratulates her on this achievement!

The Hamburger Literaturpreise are each endowed with 8,000 euros. The award ceremony, by invitation only, will take place on Monday, December 9, at 7 pm at the Literaturhaus Hamburg and will be broadcast live. A public reading by the winners is planned for February 2025.

»Each year, the Hamburg Literature Prizes mark the year’s end as a literary highlight,« says Dr. Carsten Brosda, Hamburg’s Senator for Culture and Media. This year’s submissions include challenging, humorous, and provocative texts.

On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, at 7:30 pm, Simoné Goldschmidt-Lechner will present her book at the LCB – Literarisches Colloquium Berlin.

About the Novella
Ich kann dich noch sehen (an diesen Tagen) was published on May 2, 2024, by Rohstoff, a publishing project by Matthes & Seitz. In 144 pages, Goldschmidt-Lechner narrates the fate of Rahel in a bilingual German-English edition.

Rahel must report a rape. But how can she trust the police, who are associated with violence against her and her community? Ich kann dich noch sehen (an diesen Tagen) asks who can expect help from state institutions, who qualifies as a »good« victim, who is seen as a »credible« perpetrator, and how to handle acts that are simultaneously intimate and public. The novella offers a raw, unvarnished look at the intersections of origin, womanhood, and structural exclusion, while attempting to articulate the unspeakable.

Armin Djamali writes in his review for the Goethe Institute’s #Vorzeichen project: »Goldschmidt-Lechner captivates with her novella, skillfully addressing the grave themes of sexual violence and racist police brutality in a concise narrative that does them justice. She also raises essential questions about resistance and culpability. The text critiques society’s tendency to blame marginalized victims for the violence inflicted upon their bodies and is a return to what truly matters: siblinghood.«

Born in southern Germany, Simoné Goldschmidt-Lechner is a writer, translator, and interdisciplinary artist based in Hamburg. Writing since 2018, her debut novel, Messer Zungen, was published in July 2022 by Matthes & Seitz, Berlin. A video game adaptation of the novel is currently in development.

She has been collaborating with composers and musicians from Hamburg and Berlin on interdisciplinary projects that merge literature and contemporary music. She co-edits the literary magazine process*in, co-organizes a writers’ room for (queer) BIPOC youth, and, as part of the film collective Jünglinge, organized the online release festival for the film No Hard Feelings/Futur 3 (directed by Faraz Shariat).

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