Three gripping non-fiction books for the NDR Prize: Who will win on November 6th?

Three gripping non-fiction books for the NDR Prize: Who will win on November 6th?

Things will get exciting in just over a week: On November 6th, the coveted NDR Non-Fiction Prize 2025 will be awarded as part of the Göttingen Literature Autumn. Since 2009, this prize has honored the best non-fiction book of the year written in German and annually calls to mind a wide range of topics that significantly shape our social discourse. The nomination committee has now created the longlist from over 120 submissions, from which three outstanding titles were selected for the shortlist. This is reported by the NDR.

This year the nominees cover a wide spectrum: from gender medicine to life and death to coming to terms with family pasts. Let's take a look at the works that made it onto the shortlist. The three finalists are:

• Güner Yasemin Balci – “Heimatland. Zähne zeigen gegen die Feinde der Demokratie”
• Alena Buyx – “Leben und Sterben. Die großen Fragen ethisch entscheiden”
• Eva Biringer – “Unversehrt. Frauen und Schmerz”

Diverse topics on the longlist

The longlist includes a total of ten titles that address crucial issues of our time, including social justice, environmental destruction and responsibility, both on an individual and collective level. The other nominated books are:

• Dr. Martin Bartenberger – “Was tun, wenn man nichts tun kann”
• Susanne Beyer – “Kornblumenblau. Der geheimnisvolle Tod meines Großvaters 1945 und die Frage, was er mit den Nazis zu tun hatte”
• Aladin Mafaalani – “Kinder – Minderheit ohne Schutz. Aufwachsen in einer alternden Gesellschaft”
• Klaus Peter Strohmeier und Franz-Stefan Gady – “Die Rückkehr des Krieges. Warum wir wieder lernen müssen, mit Krieg umzugehen”
• Matthias Glaubrecht – “Das stille Sterben der Natur. Wie wir die Artenvielfalt und uns selbst retten”
• Martyna Linartas – “Unverdiente Ungleichheit. Wie der Weg aus der Erbengesellschaft gelingen kann”
• Bernhard Pörksen – “Zuhören. Die Kunst, sich der Welt zu öffnen”

The jurors' selection criteria include relevance, originality and readability of the titles, such as Press portal communicates. All three shortlist titles combine scientific findings with personal reflections and offer valuable social insights.

Further information about the award ceremony

The award ceremony will take place on the Sartorius Campus in Göttingen and will be broadcast live on the radio on NDR Kultur and in the online live stream from 7 p.m. The winner will receive prize money of 15,000 euros, which will be presented by both the NDR awards ceremony and the Sartorius “LifeScienceXplained” prize. The aim of these prizes is to honor works that deal with future-relevant questions in the areas of culture, society, politics, research and knowledge, such as reporting Regional update can be seen.

So on November 6th we will find out which of these three outstanding works will win the race. One thing is certain: the topics are current and concern us all - there is really something to be said!