Prize winners
Since 1950, the winners of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade have been honoured for their contributions to peace, humanity and understanding between peoples.
Current award winner
2023
Salman Rushdie
Laudation: Daniel Kehlmann
The Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has chosen the Mumbai-born author Salman Rushdie to be the recipient of this year’s Peace Prize. The award ceremony took place on Sunday 22 October 2023 in the Church of St. Paul in Frankfurt am Main. The laudation was held by German author Daniel Kehlmann.
2022
Serhij Zhadan
2021
Tsitsi Dangarembga
2020
Amartya Sen
2019
Sebastião Salgado
2018
Aleida and Jan Assmann
2017
Margaret Atwood
2016
Carolin Emcke
2015
Navid Kermani
2014
Jaron Lanier
2013
Swetlana Alexijewitsch
2011
Boualem Sansal
2010
David Grossman
2009-1950
For further information about the prize winners please visit the German sites.
2009 Claudio Magris
2008 Anselm Kiefer
2007 Saul Friedländer
2006 Wolf Lepenies
2005 Orhan Pamuk
2004 Péter Esterházy
2003 Susan Sontag
2002 Chinua Achebe
2001 Jürgen Habermas
2000 Assia Djebar
1999 Fritz Stern
1998 Martin Walser
1997 Yasar Kemal
1996 Mario Vargas Llosa
1995 Annemarie Schimmel
1994 Jorge Semprún
1993 Friedrich Schorlemmer
1992 Amos Oz
1991 György Konrád
1990 Karl Dedecius
1989 Václav Havel
1988 Siegfried Lenz
1987 Hans Jonas
1986 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
1985 Teddy Kollek
1984 Octavio Paz
1983 Manès Sperber
1982 George F. Kennan
1981 Lew Kopelew
1980 Ernesto Cardenal
1979 Yehudi Menuhin
1978 Astrid Lindgren
1977 Leszek Kolakowski
1976 Max Frisch
1975 Alfred Grosser
1974 Frère Roger
1973 Club of Rome
1972 Janusz Korczak
1971 Marion Gräfin Dönhoff
1970 Alva und Gunnar Myrdal
1969 Alexander Mitscherlich
1968 Léopold Sédar Senghor
1967 Ernst Bloch
1966 Kardinal Augustin Bea und Willem Vissert 't Hooft
1965 Nelly Sachs
1964 Gabriel Marcel
1963 Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
1962 Paul Tillich
1961 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
1960 Victor Gollancz
1959 Theodor Heuss
1958 Karl Jaspers
1957 Thornton Wilder
1956 Reinhold Schneider
1955 Hermann Hesse
1954 Carl Jacob Burckhardt
1953 Martin Buber
1952 Romano Guardini
1951 Albert Schweitzer
1950 Max Tau