The queer bookstore “Prinz Eisenherz” in Berlin is one of the three main winners of the 2025 German Bookstore Prize. Culture State Minister Wolfram Weimer (independent) announced this on Friday on the prize’s official homepage. In addition, the bookstores “Aegis” in Ulm and “Serifee” in Leipzig were named “best bookstores,” with each receiving 25,000 euros.
“We are very happy and extend our congratulations to all other prize recipients,” the Eisenherz team said in a Sunday press release. At the same time, the queer bookstore criticized the federal government: “Because this year’s grant process coincided with the scandal over the exclusion of the three left-leaning bookstores and the actual awarding at the Leipzig Book Fair was canceled by Wolfgang Weimar, we unfortunately lose the dignified attention and recognition.”
Drei linke Buchhandlungen nachträglich von Liste gestrichen
The German Bookstore Prize is awarded annually to independent bookstores for their cultural work, literary selection, or innovative concepts. The prizes total up to one million euros. In addition to the three “best bookstores,” five stores are designated as “especially outstanding,” and up to one hundred “excellent bookstores” receive a 7,000-euro prize.
This year saw the first-ever removal of three left-wing bookstores in Berlin, Bremen, and Göttingen—selected by a professional jury—from the list by the Ministry of Culture due to alleged “verfassungsschutzrelevante Erkenntnisse” (information relevant to domestic intelligence). Details were not disclosed. After strong protests, Weimer canceled the prize ceremony at the Leipzig Book Fair entirely.
The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels criticized the exclusions in a statement: “We, as the Börsenverein, expressly stand up for the freedom of speech, the diversity of the literary offering, and the independence of bookstores as places of open, critical exchange,” the statement read, a point supported by the Eisenherz team. (mize)
