Glaisin (dpa/mv) - The Johannes Gilhoff Literature Prize 2023 goes to the writer Joachim Kolmer. This was announced by the Johannes Gillhoff Society on Sunday after its annual conference in Glaisin on Saturday. In the now twelve books, Kolmer (70) uses standard German with occasional Low German inserts and dialogues. The books are located in the so-called Griesen area in southwest Mecklenburg.
The southwest produced some of Mecklenburg's best writers. "They are now joined by Joachim Kolmer," the company announced. The award will be presented on June 10, 2023 at the Gillhoff Day ceremony in Ludwigslust town hall. The village of Glaisin is a district of Ludwigslust.
Kolmer, who lives in Probst Jesar near Lübtheen, attended the Polytechnic High School in Dömitz, did his Abitur as a skilled forest worker and studied from 1974 to 1978 at the Technical University in Dresden, graduating as a qualified forest engineer. Kolmer then worked in various forest functions, from 1990 as a district forester, most recently at the military training area in Lübtheen. In 1999 his first book entitled "Im Kranichwald" was published.
The undoped prize commemorates the Low German writer Johannes Gillhoff (1861-1930). His best-known work, the epistolary novel "Jürnjakob Swehn der Amerikafahrer", tells the story of a young day laborer from Mecklenburg who emigrated to the USA in the 19th century to try his luck there. The book was widely circulated in the 1920s and is still available.
