Reiner Kunze

German writer and GDR dissident (born 1933)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German.  (August 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the German article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Reiner Kunze]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|de|Reiner Kunze}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Reiner Kunze. Signature.

Reiner Kunze (born 16 August 1933 in Oelsnitz, Erzgebirge, Saxony) is a German writer and GDR dissident. He studied media and journalism at the University of Leipzig. In 1968, he left the GDR state party SED following the communist Warsaw Pact countries invasion of Czechoslovakia in response to the Prague Spring. He had to publish his work under various pseudonyms. In 1976, his most famous book The Lovely Years, which contained critical insights into the life, and the policies behind the Iron Curtain, was published in West Germany to great acclaim. In 1977, the GDR regime expatriated him, and he moved to West Germany (FRG). He now lives near Passau in Bavaria.

His writings consists mostly of poetry, though he wrote prose as well, including essays. He is also a translator of Czech poetry and prose.

Kunze was a victim of the Stasi's Zersetzung psychological warfare program.

In 2009, he was awarded the Thüringer Literaturpreis.[1]

## Works[edit]

* Die Zukunft sitzt am Tische. 1955 (with Egon Günther)
* Vögel über dem Tau. Liebesgedichte und Lieder. 1959
* Fragen des lyrischen Schaffens. 1960 (Beiträge zur Gegenwartsliteratur, Issue 18)
* Widmungen. 1963
* Die guten Sitten. 1964 (with Heinz Knobloch)
* Sensible Wege. 1969
* Der Löwe Leopold, fast Märchen, fast Geschichten. 1970
* Zimmerlautstärke. 1972
* Briefe mit blauem Siegel. 1973
* Die wunderbaren Jahre. 1976
* Das Märchen vom Dis (The Tale of Dis). 1976
* Die Wunderbaren Jahre. 1979 [movie script]
* Auf eigene Hoffnung. 1981
* Gespräch mit der Amsel. 1984
* Eines Jeden Einziges Leben. 1986
* Zurückgeworfen auf sich Selbst. Interviews (1984–1988), 1989
* Das weiße Gedicht. 1989
* Deckname Lyrik. 1990
* Wohin der Schlaf sich Schlafen Legt. 1991
* Am Sonnenhang, Tagebuch eines Jahres. 1993
* Steine und Lieder: Namibische Notizen und Fotos. 1996
* Ein Tag auf Dieser Erde. 1998
* Nocturne in E. 2001 (with Andreas Felger)
* Die Aura der Wörter. 2002
* Der Kuß der Koi. 2002
* Wo wir zu Hause das Salz haben. 2003
* Bleibt nur die eigene Stirn. 2005
* Lindennacht. 2007
* Die Stunde mit dir selbst. Gedichte. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-10-397376-1.

## Awards[edit]

Reiner Kunze in 2009 in the St. Martins Church at Memmingen

Source:[2]

* 1968 Übersetzerpreis des Tschechoslowakischen Schriftstellerverbandes
* 1971 Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis
* 1973 Großer Literaturpreis der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste and Mölle Literature Prize, Sweden
* 1977 Georg Trakl Prize [de], Austria, Andreas-Gryphius-Preis and Georg Büchner Prize[3]
* 1979 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Screenplay[4]
* 1981 Geschwister Scholl-Preis
* 1984 Eichendorff-Literaturpreis
* 1988 Bavarian Order of Merit
* 1989 Kulturpreis Ostbayerns
* 1990 Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann-Preis and Hanns Martin Schleyer Prize
* 1993 Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Kulturpreis deutscher Freimaurer and Honorary doctorate Technische Universität Dresden
* 1995 Honorary citizenship of the city of Greiz and Culture award of the district of Passau
* 1997 Weilheimer Literaturpreis [de]
* 1999 Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis
* 2000 Christian Ferber-Ehrengabe der Deutschen Schillerstiftung
* 2001 Hans Sahl Prize [de] and Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
* 2002 Kunstpreis zur deutsch-tschechischen Verständigung [de]
* 2003 Ján Smrek Prize and honorary citizenship of the city of Oelsnitz, Erzgebirge
* 2004 STAB-Preis der Stiftung für Abendländische Besinnung and Czech translation prize Premia Bohemica
* 2006 Guest of Honor of the Heinrich-Heine-Haus Lüneburg
* 2008 Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia
* 2009 Memminger Freiheitspreis 1525 [de] and Thüringer Literaturpreis
* 2013 Robert Schuman Medal, EPP Group
* 2013 America Award for a lifetime contribution to international writing

## British/American editions[edit]

* The Lovely Years
* In Time of Need: A Conversation about Poetry, Resistance & Exile (with Mireille Gansel)
* Zimmerlautstarke With the Volume Down Low (Swamp Press, 1981)

## References[edit]

1. ^ Hart, H.; De Gruyter Incorporated, W.; Hart, J.; Kürschner, J.; Hillger, H.; Klenz, H.; Lüdtke, G.; Neuner, E.; Strodel, H. (2010). Kürschners deutscher Literatur-Kalender (in German). De Gruyter. p. 1459\. ISBN 978-3-11-023278-3. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
2. ^ "Reiner Kunze". S. Fischer Verlage (in German). 24 August 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
3. ^ "Reiner Kunze". Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
4. ^ Bayerischer Filmpreis – "Pierrot"

## External links[edit]

* Official website
* Tabellarische Kurzbiografie zu Reiner Kunze (bis 1999)

* v
* t
* e

Recipients of the Georg Büchner Prize

1923–1950|

* 1923 Adam Karrillon and Arnold Mendelssohn
* 1924 Alfred Bock and Paul Thesing
* 1925 Wilhelm Michel and Rudolf Koch
* 1926 Christian Heinrich Kleukens and Wilhelm Petersen
* 1927 Kasimir Edschmid and Johannes Bischoff
* 1928 Richard Hoelscher and Well Habicht
* 1929 Carl Zuckmayer and Adam Antes
* 1930 Nikolaus Schwarzkopf and Johannes Lippmann
* 1931 Alexander Posch and Hans Simon
* 1932 Albert H. Rausch and Adolf Bode
* 1933–1944 not given
* 1945 Hans Schiebelhuth
* 1946 Fritz Usinger
* 1947 Anna Seghers
* 1948 Hermann Heiss
* 1949 Carl Gunschmann
* 1950 Elisabeth Langgässer

Since 1951|

* 1951 Gottfried Benn
* 1952 not given
* 1953 Ernst Kreuder
* 1954 Martin Kessel
* 1955 Marie Luise Kaschnitz
* 1956 Karl Krolow
* 1957 Erich Kästner
* 1958 Max Frisch
* 1959 Günter Eich
* 1960 Paul Celan
* 1961 Hans Erich Nossack
* 1962 Wolfgang Koeppen
* 1963 Hans Magnus Enzensberger
* 1964 Ingeborg Bachmann
* 1965 Günter Grass
* 1966 Wolfgang Hildesheimer
* 1967 Heinrich Böll
* 1968 Golo Mann
* 1969 Helmut Heißenbüttel
* 1970 Thomas Bernhard
* 1971 Uwe Johnson
* 1972 Elias Canetti
* 1973 Peter Handke
* 1974 Hermann Kesten
* 1975 Manès Sperber
* 1976 Heinz Piontek
* 1977 Reiner Kunze
* 1978 Hermann Lenz
* 1979 Ernst Meister
* 1980 Christa Wolf
* 1981 Martin Walser
* 1982 Peter Weiss
* 1983 Wolfdietrich Schnurre
* 1984 Ernst Jandl
* 1985 Heiner Müller
* 1986 Friedrich Dürrenmatt
* 1987 Erich Fried
* 1988 Albert Drach
* 1989 Botho Strauß
* 1990 Tankred Dorst
* 1991 Wolf Biermann
* 1992 George Tabori
* 1993 Peter Rühmkorf
* 1994 Adolf Muschg
* 1995 Durs Grünbein
* 1996 Sarah Kirsch
* 1997 H. C. Artmann
* 1998 Elfriede Jelinek
* 1999 Arnold Stadler
* 2000 Volker Braun
* 2001 Friederike Mayröcker
* 2002 Wolfgang Hilbig
* 2003 Alexander Kluge
* 2004 Wilhelm Genazino
* 2005 Brigitte Kronauer
* 2006 Oskar Pastior
* 2007 Martin Mosebach
* 2008 Josef Winkler
* 2009 Walter Kappacher
* 2010 Reinhard Jirgl
* 2011 Friedrich Christian Delius
* 2012 Felicitas Hoppe
* 2013 Sibylle Lewitscharoff
* 2014 Jürgen Becker
* 2015 Rainald Goetz
* 2016 Marcel Beyer
* 2017 Jan Wagner
* 2018 Terézia Mora
* 2019 Lukas Bärfuss
* 2020 Elke Erb
* 2021 Clemens J. Setz
* 2022 Emine Sevgi Özdamar
* 2023: Lutz Seiler

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Norway
* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Germany
* Italy
* Israel
* United States
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Australia
* Greece
* Korea
* Croatia
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Portugal
* Vatican

Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* ADK
* MusicBrainz

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* RISM
* SNAC
* IdRef

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template