Dietmar Dath: Die Abschaffung der Arten (Suhrkamp)

Sherko Fatah: Das dunkle Schiff (Jung und Jung)

Iris Hanika: Treffen sich zwei (Droschl)

Rolf Lappert: Nach Hause schwimmen (Hanser)

Ingo Schulze: Adam und Evelyn (Berlin Verlag)

Uwe Tellkamp: Der Turm (Suhrkamp)

Coincidentally, the English translation of Ingo Schulze’s 600-page New Lives will be released by Knopf days after the winner of this prize is announced . . .

From the announcement:

The list is not representative of “any uniform thematic or stylistic line,” said jury spokesman Rainer Moritz in Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday, Sept. 17. Rather, it’s an indication of the “rich diversity of very readable novels submitted by German-language authors in 2008.”

All of the nominees are between the ages of 39 and 49; in other words, all part of the middle generation of current authors.

The winner will be announced on October 13th, just before the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Michael’s write-up on the prize is really good, especially since he reads German and can offer up more educated opinions on which books should win. (I really like his observation about how publishers are only allowed to submit two titles, yet the judges called in a few more for Suhrkamp, considering they have four books on the longlist . . .) To echo my common complaint, it would be great to have short samples in English of all these books. Hopefully that will happen for the shortlist.

The shortlist will be announced on September 17th, with the prize being awarded on October 13th during the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Here’s the full list:

Lukas Bärfuss: Hundert Tage (Wallstein)

Marcel Beyer: Kaltenburg (Suhrkamp)

Dietmar Dath: Die Abschaffung der Arten (Suhrkamp)

Karen Duve: Taxi (Eichborn Berlin)

Sherko Fatah: Das dunkle Schiff (Jung und Jung)

Olga Flor: Kollateralschaden (Zsolnay)

Norbert Gstrein: Die Winter im Süden (Hanser)

Peter Handke: Die morawische Nacht (Suhrkamp)

Iris Hanika: Treffen sich zwei (Droschl)

Martin Kluger: Der Vogel, der spazieren ging (DuMont)

Judith Kuckart: Die Verdächtige (DuMont)

Rolf Lappert: Nach Hause schwimmen (Hanser)

Norbert Niemann: Willkommen neue Träume (Hanser)

Karl-Heinz Ott: Ob wir wollen oder nicht (Hoffmann und Campe, August 2008)

Hans Pleschinski: ³¢³Ü»å·É¾±²µ²õ³óö³ó±ð (C. H. Beck)

Ingo Schulze: Adam und Evelyn (Berlin Verlag)

Uwe Tellkamp: Der Turm (Suhrkamp)

Uwe Timm: Halbschatten (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)

Martin Walser: Ein liebender Mann (Rowohlt)

Feridun Zaimoglu: Liebesbrand (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)