Jenny Erpenbeck's Book Wins Intl. Booker Prize '24: What Is It About?

German writer Jenny Erpenbeck's book Kairos won the prestigious International Booker Prize 2024 on May 21 in London, England. The fiction novel, translated into English by Michael Hoffman, is based on a love affair during the dystopian final years of East Germany’s existence. The book defeated five other finalists, chosen from 149 submitted novels for the prize, The £50,000 (₹53 lakh) prize money is divided between author and translator. Erpenbeck made history as the first German to secure the International Booker, while Hoffman made history as the first male translator to win since the prize debuted in 2016.

What Is Kairos About?

International Booker-winning Kairos is set in the final days of the German Democratic Republic, leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. 57-year-old Jenny Erpenbeck was born and raised in East Berlin, which was part of East Germany until the country disappeared with German reunification in 1990. 

Erpenbeck said she hoped the book would help readers learn there was more to East Germany than what is depicted in the media. “The only thing that everybody knows is that they had a wall, they were terrorizing everyone with the Stasi, and that’s it,” she expressed. “That is not all there is.”

Kairos reflects on the matters of the state while drawing parallels with people's personal lives. Canadian journalist Eleanor Wachtel, who chaired the five-member judging panel, said Erpenbeck’s novel is “a richly textured evocation of a tormented love affair, the entanglement of personal and national transformations.”

The book delves into the relationship between a student and an older writer. Wachtel describes, "Like the GDR, (the book) starts with optimism and trust, then unravels so badly." She added that Michael Hoffman's translation captures the “eloquence and eccentricities” of Erpenbeck’s prose.

Hoffman expressed that he felt his style of translation complemented that of Erpenbeck. “I think she is a tighter and more methodical writer than I would be,” he said. In 2023, Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov's novel Time Shelter (translated by Angela Rodel) secured the annual prize.