The Art and Culture Minister Angela Dorn today announced the jury’s decision for the Hessian Publishing Prize: The special prize will go to the Furore Verlag.
Music publications from Kassel are unique! The jury was impressed by the consistent line with which only works by women composers have been published for 35 years. “To this day, the publisher is unique in the world with its sheet music, books and CD publications. Over 2000 works by 170 female composers from almost all parts of the world have been published to date. The music of women, which was ignored or disregarded for centuries, made a sensation audible again in concert life, helped them to break through in the international concert business and thus made an important contribution to musical life not only in Germany. ”
Barbara Jost, Chairwoman of the State Association of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland of the Börsenverein: “I am particularly pleased that Corona was unable to slow down the Hessian Publishing Prize, as it puts the publisher’s services in the public eye. Furore Verlag, an extraordinary music publisher that has sheet music, books and CDs exclusively by women in its program, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The publishers is characterized by the fact that they also offer unknown exceptional artists a platform and this with great success. ”
About the Hessian Publishing Prize
The publishing award is part of an initiative to promote publishing by the State of Hesse and the State Association of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V. It pursues the goal of recognizing, supporting and maintaining the cultural diversity of publishers in Hesse. It is also intended to promote the distribution and sale of books and to focus on the complex and challenging publishing work in a demanding phase of all digitization activities. All independent publishers with headquarters in Hesse with an annual turnover of less than two million euros can apply. The tender was aimed at all publishing branches (fiction, poetry & non-fiction, specialist and science as well as art & regional books).
The jury had to evaluate the publishing strategy and the overall program, not individual book successes or well-known authors. The jury included: Florian Balke (FAZ), Katharina Hesse (Stiftung Buchkunst), Björn Jager, (Hessisches Literaturforum), Jutta Leimbert (Buchhandlung Vaternahm, Wiesbaden), Hans Sarkowicz (Hessischer Rundfunk), Ute Schwens (German National Library), Aljoscha Walser (consultant for the media industry and its service providers).
The Hessian Publishing Prize has been awarded since 2018 together with the State Association of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V.