Dresden (dpa / sn) - The Leipzig author Carl-Christian Elze will be the new city clerk of Dresden next year. The town hall announced on Thursday that he would receive a grant and a rent-free apartment in the city on the Elbe for six months. There were a surprising number of applications this year. After examining the texts and intensive consultation, the jury decided in favor of Elze, who was recently nominated on the longlist for the German Book Prize 2022 with his prose volume "Freudenberg". His application as town clerk contained only lyrical texts, with which he convinced the jury.
"His poems are sensual, awake, surprising and full of tender irony. They are characterized by strong images and metaphors and a strict awareness of form," the statement said. In his poems, the Leipzig writer combines science and religion, philosophy and biology, love for people and love for animals.
Elze was born in Berlin in 1974 and grew up in Leipzig. His father was a zoo veterinarian, and the current author spent large parts of his childhood in the Leipzig Zoo. He later studied medicine for two years, followed by biology and German studies. From 2004 to 2009 he was a student at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig. He has received several awards for his work.
