Hefter receives the German Book Prize 2024 for “Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?” (“Hey Good Morning, How Are You?)

Frankfurt am Main, 14 October 2024

Statement from the jury: 

 “The protagonist in Martina Hefter’s ‘Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?’ (‘Hey Good Morning, How Are You?’) is in her mid-50s, leading a precarious life as a performance artist in Leipzig while caring for her husband, who has MS. On sleepless nights, she chats with a Nigerian lovescammer who’s after her money. Yet the question arises as to who is exploiting whom here – and what happens when, contrary to expectations, the boundaries between digital games and real affection become blurred. Navigating between melancholy and euphoria, and reflecting on trust and deception, the novel combines gruelling everyday life with mythological figures and cosmic dimensions in a fascinating way. Martina Hefter writes about all this in her intelligently choreographed novel, which exerts an attraction of its very own.”

The members of the jury for the German Book Prize 2024 are: jury spokesperson Natascha Freundel (rbb), Gerrit Bartels (Der Tagesspiegel), Magda Birkmann (independent literary mediator and bookseller), Torsten Hoffmann (University of Stuttgart), Marianna Lieder (independent critic), Regina Moths (“Literatur Moths” bookshop) and Klaus Nüchtern (Falter magazine).

The following novels were also shortlisted for the award:

Maren Kames: Hasenprosa (Suhrkamp Verlag, March 2024), Clemens Meyer: Die Projektoren (S. Fischer Verlag, August 2024), Ronya Othmann: Vierundsiebzig (Rowohlt Verlag, March 2024), Markus Thielemann: Von Norden rollt ein Donner (Verlag C.H.Beck, July 2024) and Iris Wolff: Lichtungen (Klett-Cotta, January 2024).

With the German Book Prize 2024, the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) honours the best German-language novel of the year. Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation) is the main sponsor of the German Book Prize, and Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners. The television network Deutsche Welle supports the German Book Prize in its media activities both at home and abroad.

A press photo of Martina Hefter will be available at approx. 8:30 p.m. at www.boersenverein.de/pressefotos.