The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Republic, but was discontinued in 1933.

In 1985 the prize was awarded for the first time in over fifty years. Between 1994 and 2000 it was awarded biennially. A monetary sum of €20,000 accompanies the award.

Winners

1912: Hermann Burte and Reinhard Sorge
1913: Hermann Essig and Oskar Loerke
1914: Fritz von Unruh and Hermann Essig
1915: Robert Michel and Arnold Zweig
1916: Agnes Miegel and Heinrich Lersch
1917: Walter Hasenclever
1918: Leonhard Frank and Paul Zech
1919: Anton Dietzenschmidt and Kurt Heynicke
1920: Hans Henny Jahnn
1921: Paul Gurk
1922: Bertolt Brecht
1923: Wilhelm Lehmann and Robert Musil
1924: Ernst Barlach
1925: Carl Zuckmayer
1926: Alexander Lernet-Holenia und Alfred Neumann(Rahel Sanzara didn't accept her prize)
1927: Gerhard Menzel and Hans Meisel
1928: Anna Seghers
1929: Alfred Brust and Eduard Reinacher
1930: Reinhard Goering
1931: Ödön von Horvath and Erik Reger
1932 : Richard Billinger and Else Lasker-Schüler

1985: Alexander Kluge
1986: Diana Kempf
1987: Thomas Brasch
1988: Ulrich Horstmann
1989: Ernst Augustin
1990: Heiner Müller
1991: Gaston Salvatore
1992: Monika Maron
1993: Ernst Jandl
1994: Herta Müller
1996: Hans Joachim Schädlich
1998: Dirk von Petersdorff
2000: Barbara Honigmann
2001: Judith Hermann
2002: Martin Mosebach
2003: Albert Ostermaier
2004: Emine Sevgi Özdamar
2005: Gert Jonke
2006: Daniel Kehlmann
2007: Wilhelm Genazino
2008: Max Goldt

See also

• German literature
• List of literary awards
• List of years in literature
• List of years in poetry

External links

• http://www.kleist.org/kleistpreis/index.htm
• http://www.uni-koeln.de/kleist/preis.htm