Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos has emerged as the first book translated from German to win the International Booker Prize 2024. The book was translated by Michael Hofmann. The announcement was made by Eleanor Wachtel, Chair of the 2024 judges, at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern, sponsored by Maison Valentino and hosted by academic and broadcaster Shahidha Bari.
The £50,000 prize is split equally between author Jenny Erpenbeck and translator Michael Hofmann, giving each equal recognition. Erpenbeck’s novel, which was originally written in German, follows a destructive affair between a young woman and an older man in 1980s East Berlin. It intertwines the personal and the political as the two lovers seemingly embody East Germany’s crushed idealism, with both holding on to the past long after they know they should move on.
A meditation on hope and disappointment, Kairos poses complex questions about freedom, loyalty, love and power. Why Did Kairos Win? Eleanor Wachtel, Chair of the International Booker Prize 2024 judges said: “In luminous prose, Jenny Erpenbeck exposes the complexity of a relationship between a young student and a much older writer, tracking the daily tensions and reversals that mark their intimacy, staying close to the apartments, cafés, and city streets, workplaces and foods of East Berlin. It starts with love and passion, but it’s at least as much about power, art and culture.
The self-absorption of the lovers, their descent into a destructive vort.
