Tamara Štajner Wins Exil Literature Prize 2026

Tamara Štajner has been awarded the main prize of the Exil Literature Prize 2026, coinciding with the release of her second novel, "Luft nach unten" (Air Downwards). The prize, which honors authors writing in German whose mother tongue is not German, is awarded by the association "verein exil" and supported by the Literature Department of the City of Vienna/Culture. The award ceremony will take place on December 11 at 7 pm at the Literaturhaus Wien. The jury praised Štajner's novel for its unflinching yet empathetic portrayal of transgenerational trauma and a difficult mother-daughter relationship, noting her virtuosic ability to construct complex life stories and relationship webs with few, well-placed strokes. Štajner, born in 1987 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, is a violist and writer who writes in both Slovenian and German. She previously won the Lyrikpreis Meran in 2024 and received the Kelag Prize at the Ingeborg-Bachmann Prize for an excerpt from "Luft nach unten". Her debut novel "Raupenfell" was published in 2023. She lives and works in Vienna. The novel has also been included in the list of best books of August 2026 by the source publication.