• Daniela Krien studied Cultural Studies as well as Communication and Media Studies in Leipzig. She has been a freelance author since 2010. Her novels "Die Liebe im Ernstfall" and "Der Brand" were on the bestseller list for months.
• The jury's verdict: "The author and the award's namesake meet in their struggle for the inner and outer balance of mankind."
• The award ceremony will take place on September 21 at 11 a.m. in the Spiegelsaal of Theater Aachen. The day before, there will be a reading with Daniela Krien in the Ludwig Forum at 6 pm. Finally, the author will visit the Einhard-Gymnasium.

The German writer Daniela Krien is this year's winner of the Walter Hasenclever Literature Prize of the City of Aachen. This was announced today (Thursday, March 13) by Axel Schneider, Chairman of the Walter Hasenclever Society, together with Head of Cultural Affairs Heinrich Brötz, members of the jury and Mayor Hilde Scheidt. The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at 11 a.m. in the Spiegelsaal of Theater Aachen.
Daniela Krien, born in 1975 in Neu-Kaliß, studied cultural studies as well as communication and media studies in Leipzig. She has been a freelance author since 2010. Her novels "Die Liebe im Ernstfall" and "Der Brand" were on the bestseller list for months and have been translated into many languages. Daniela Krien has two daughters and lives in Leipzig.
In awarding the prize, the jury honored the author's literary oeuvre. Chairman Axel Schneider said: "One of Krien's main themes is the fragility of young and old individuals in different social contexts. Her latest novel "Mein drittes Leben" (My Third Life) focuses on the question of existential borderline experiences and how to overcome them. Looking at life from a serious point of view, enduring the loss of a loved one or life-threatening illnesses and regaining orientation - this is what people struggle with in Krien's works."
The jury also sees its choice confirmed with regard to the award's namesake, explaining: "Social moorings are crumbling rapidly, and it is not only in times of corona that many people can no longer bear the increasing loss of security and are looking for new confidence. Krien adheres to virtues such as justice and bravery, which Walter Hasenclever saw as the benchmark for personal action in times of political radicalization. The author and the award's namesake meet in their struggle for the inner and outer balance of mankind."
Heinrich Brötz, Councillor for Education, Youth and Culture, emphasized that especially in the current times, in which there are many resentments, judgments and prejudices against East Germany, Daniela Krien has been chosen as the award winner as an author who can build bridges.
As part of the award ceremony, Daniela Krien will give a reading at the Ludwig Forum in Aachen on September 20 at 6 pm; on September 22, a program with the author will traditionally follow in the auditorium of the Einhard-Gymnasium - Hasenclever's former school.
The Walter Hasenclever Prize has existed in its current form since 1996. Previous winners include Peter Rühmkorf (1996), George Tabori (1998), Oskar Pastior (2000), Marlene Streeruwitz (2002), F. C. Delius (2004), Herta Müller (2006), Christoph Hein (2008), Ralf Rothmann (2010), Michael Lentz (2012), Michael Köhlmeier (2014), Jenny Erpenbeck (2016), Robert Menasse (2018), Marica Bodrožić (2020/2021) and Norbert Scheuer in 2023. The prize is sponsored by the Walter Hasenclever Society, the Einhard Gymnasium, the Aachen book trade and the city of Aachen. The board of trustees also includes a representative of the German Literature Archive in Marbach, which looks after Hasenclever's estate and is the main sponsor of the prize.
This year's jury consisted of Bettina Baumann (Einhard-Gymnasium), Hilde Scheidt (Mayor of the City of Aachen), Dr. Jan Bürger (Marbach Literature Institute), Olaf Müller (Head of the Cultural Department of the City of Aachen), Martin Schwoll (Managing Director of the Backhaus bookshop), Thomas Thelen (Editor-in-Chief of the Aachener Zeitung) and Axel Schneider (Chairman of the Walter Hasenclever Society and the jury).
Walter Hasenclever was born in Aachen on July 8, 1890. He died on June 21, 1940 in an internment camp in the south of France. His lyrical work and his drama "Der Sohn", which premiered in 1916, made him an exponent of literary expressionism. In 1917 he was awarded the Kleist Prize, and from 1924 to 1930 he lived as a journalist in Paris. During this time, he wrote a series of plays. At times, he became the most frequently performed playwright in the German-speaking world. In 1930, Hasenclever worked as a screenwriter for Greta Garbos in Hollywood. His works were banned in Germany in 1933. As a critic of the regime, he was also physically endangered and fled into exile, where he chose suicide in the face of Germany's success in the war.