When Jenny Erpenbeck was awarded the International Booker Prize in London two years ago for her novel “Kairos,” it was a small sensation in Germany. No German author had ever won this prize before, which is given to a foreign-language novel translated into English and published in the UK since 2016, despite previous nominations for Erpenbeck, Daniel Kehlmann, Marion Poschmann, and Clemens Meyer.
This year, the chances of a German-language novel winning the International Booker Prize are even higher. With Daniel Kehlmann’s “The Director” and Shida Bayzar’s “The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran” both nominated by the jury for their shortlist of six works.
Kehlmann was celebrated in the USA
The nomination for Kehlmann’s novel about the life, films, and Nazi entanglements of film director G. W. Pabst, published here in 2023, is not surprising. “The Director” received high praise in the Anglo-American literary world after its release, including being listed among the best books of the year in the New York Times Book Review in 2025.
Bayzar’s novel, “The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran,” tells a Persian family story from the fall of the Shah in 1979 to 2009, decade by decade and divided into four chapters, each from a different family member’s perspective.
Bayzar’s novel was published in 2016
“The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran” received recognition in Germany, with Bayzar winning the Uwe-Johnson Prize and the Ernst Toller Prize for it. However, unlike Kehlmann or Erpenbeck, Bayzar’s name is not widely known outside the literary world.
On May 19, it will be announced at an event at Tate Modern in London whether Kehlmann or Bayzar, or another author, will win the International Booker Prize. The prize is worth £50,000 and is split equally between the author and the translator.
Marie N’Diaye is also nominated
Other nominees for the International Booker Prize include French author Marie N’Diaye with “The Witch,” Bulgarian author Rene Karabash with “She Who Remains,” Brazilian author Ana Paula Maia with “On Earth As It Is Beneath,” and Taiwanese author Yeng Shu-ang-zhu with “Taiwan Travelogue.”
It’s important not to confuse the International Booker Prize, won last year by Indian author Banu Mushtaq with “Heart Lamp,” with the similarly prestigious Booker Prize, awarded in November for the best English-language novel from the Anglo-American region.
