30 September 2021 Press release

In 2020, the PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad awarded the OVID Prize to songwriter and lyricist Wolf Biermann for his life’s work. The award ceremony, which was to have been held at the German National Library in March 2020 and had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, will now be taking place.

In its rationale for the award of the prize, the PEN Centre wrote, “the experience of exile is one of the core themes of Wolf Biermann’s eloquent literary oeuvre, and he has a unique understanding of how to express in words the way in which the fate of expulsion affects generations.”

Wolf Biermann was born in Hamburg in 1936. His father, a Communist and Jew, was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. Biermann moved to the GDR in 1953 and began composing songs and poems in 1960. In 1965, the GDR imposed a total ban on the performance and publication of the dissident artist’s works. Biermann was expatriated in 1976 and went back to Hamburg.

Wolf Biermann has already received numerous prestigious German literary prizes. His volumes of poetry are best-selling works of German post-war literature. He gives concerts in many countries and is well known for his acerbic essays, in which he makes provocative remarks on current affairs. His works have been published in many European languages and also in the USA, South Korea, Japan and Israel.

The OVID Prize will be presented to Wolf Biermann at 19:00 on 5 October 2021 at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main. The laudation will be given by author Marko Martin. After the award ceremony, Wolf Biermann will be giving a concert.

Wolf Biermann himself has the following to say: “On 5 October, I will be in Frankfurt to accept the OVID Prize awarded by the PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad for my life’s work. I will then immediately pass it on to Maria Kalesnikawa. Since the people of Belarus finally took to the streets to protest against the dictator Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin’s henchman, Maria Kalesnikawa has become an icon of peaceful civil resistance. […] But no matter how highly we regard Maria as a musician and freedom fighter, this will not secure her release from prison. I will be dedicating my song ‘Ermutigung’ [Encouragement] to her in the hope that it will offer some solace to her and her fellow fighters behind bars. In humanity’s eternal struggle for freedom, it is important to remember, ‘That’s how we are: we are knocked down to the ground – and get back up again!”

The event is being organised by the German National Library's German Exile Archive 1933–1945 in cooperation with the PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad.

The OVID Prize has already been presented at the German National Library on two previous occasions: in 2017 to literary scholar Guy Stern and in 2018 to the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Herta Müller.

Presentation of the OVID Prize to Wolf Biermann // With a concert by Wolf Biermann // 5 October 2021, 19:00
Welcome: Dr. Sylvia Asmus (Head of the German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945)
Gabrielle Alioth (PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad)
Greetings: Prof. Guy Stern (President of the PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad)
Dr. Regula Venske (President of PEN Centre Germany)
Laudation: Marko Martin
Concert by Wolf Biermann

The event is already sold out. Spaces are available for representatives of the press. Please reserve a space by sending an e-mail to exilarchiv-veranstaltungen@dnb.de
The event will also be livestreamed in the internet at https://dnb.unitylivestream.com/

Background information on the OVID Prize

The OVID Prize is awarded every two years to honour the life’s work of an author nominated by a jury appointed by the PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad. Prize winners do not have to be members of the PEN Centre. The winner is selected by a jury in cooperation with the PEN Centre’s management board. The OVID prize is intended to promote the principles set out in the charter of PEN International. The prize is named after the acclaimed Roman poet Ovid, who was banished into exile because of his free spirit and died in exile close to the Black Sea.

Background to the German Exile Archive 1933–1945

The German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 is a platform for discussing the subjects of exile and emigration during the Nazi era. The Archive collects testimonies to this exile: publications, institutional and personal legacies – from people in all walks of life and regardless of the prominence of the individual concerned. The goal is to capture the phenomenon of exile in all its variety and to facilitate access to our holdings.

The establishment of the Exile Archive during the early post-war period was initiated by a number of émigrés and other persons who saw it as an instrument of political enlightenment. This is another reason why the Exile Archive attaches particular importance to cultural education: the many aspects of exile between 1933 and 1945 are conveyed in exhibitions and a wide variety of events and publications, thus making a significant contribution to the cultivation of a vibrant culture of remembrance.

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Images for editorial use

Images for editorial use in connection with reports on the award ceremony. Press image material is only available in German.