Dinçer Güçyeter wins Prize of Leipzig Book Fair 2023

This German fairy tale goes way beyond Germany: Dinçer Güçyeter tells the untold story of women who have been overlooked, unheard, un-addressed for the longest time now. I am super happy to say that Güçyeter’s OUR GERMAN FAIRY TALE. A NOVEL (mikrotext) is the winner of this years Prize of Leipzig Book Fair!

This is a family history in many voices. Women of several generations and the son born in Almanya remember in poetic, often mythical, powerful images and in monologues, dialogues, dreams, prayers, choirs. Dinçer Güçyeter tells of the fate of Turkish Greeks, of archaic rootedness in Anatolian life and of the challenge of starting a new life as a guest worker and as their descendant in Germany.

The plot, which stretches from the beginning of the last century to almost the present time, leaves nothing out, no rape, no misunderstanding, no conflict at the workplace, whether in the shoe factory, with the farmer in the field or in his own pub. And then there is the mother’s expectation of her growing son, who is supposed to stand by her side as a strong man, but who himself has a completely different idea of a fulfilled life.

„A story of arriving against all odds? A skeptical stocktaking? A declaration of love perhaps, an angry reckoning, or a sentimental family story? Dinçer Güçyeter pulls the rug out from under all expectations and presents a novel that is unusual in every respect.“ Julia Schröder, Deutschlandfunk / Büchermarkt

„A book that hits you like a lightning strike and leaves you with a different view of the world. A definite reading recommendation.“ Denis Scheck, SWR Lesenswert

„The book is certainly one of those that will keep us busy for longer than just one season.“ Jörg Schieke, MDR Kultur

„This author fell from the sky, and so did this novel.“ Hubert Winkels, 3sat/Kulturzeit

„The compelling power and beauty of his poetic work is measured out to the ethos of craftsmanship: the skill of ‚working and adapting raw material with the right tools.‘ On the one hand, the aesthetic experience of matching form to content; on the other, the existential process of giving a life story the dignity and meaning it deserves. In the middle of it all are the poet and his mother.“ Stefan Kister, Stuttgarter Zeitung

„The first generation of people who came to Germany as so-called guest workers has recently been increasingly the subject of contemporary literature. But stylistically as multifaceted as the writer and publisher Dinçer Güçyeter, born in 1979 in Nettetal, takes on the story of his parents, one is unlikely to have read this aspect of the history of the Federal Republic before.“ SWR Bestenliste

„Apart from its literary quality, ,Unser Deutschlandmärchen‘ is also a tribute to the many people who have come to Germany from Turkey since 1961, carrying in their luggage little more than the hope of earning enough money to return home in a few years as made people.“ Daniela Abels, Kölnische Rundschau

„A sometimes quiet, gentle, vulnerable book, but often an equally angry, wounded, rebellious book. Above all, however, it is a virtuously composed work of linguistic art that one cannot escape.“ Gerrit Wustmann, Qantara

„Shimmering, idiosyncratic debut novel.“ Insa Wilke, Süddeutsche Zeitung