Internationaler Literaturpreis
Prize for Contemporary Literatures in Translation
2025
The International Prize for Literature (ILP) is awarded for the seventeenth time in 2025. It honors an outstanding work of contemporary international literature and its first translation into German. This dual focus makes it unique in the German award landscape.
The International Prize for Literature concentrates on heterogeneous forms of contemporary narration and focuses on the relationships between texts and realities as well as the dialog between different cultures and languages. By focusing on translations, it aims to overcome national canonizations and limited understandings of the literary and thus takes into account the current conditions of literary creation in a world shaped by diverse cultural interdependencies.
The list of previous prizewinners is a testament to the richness of contemporary literature worldwide and to the productivity of literary translation in German-speaking countries.
Since 2023, German first translations of international poetry can also be submitted. The International Literature Prize is endowed with 35,000 euros (20,000 euros for the author, 15,000 euros for the translator).
From 20 November 2024 to 20 January 2025, publishers who publish international literature in German translation can nominate up to three titles. An independent jury first nominates a shortlist from all submissions and then selects the prize duo of author and translator in a second step. The award is presented in summer 2025 as part of a literary festival at HKW.
Information on the conditions of participation and registration form for publishers at ilp.hkw.de (only German version).