Dimitre Dinev Wins Austrian Book Prize 2025 With “Time of the Brave”
The prestigious Austrian Book Prize 2025 goes to Bulgarian author Dimitré Dinev, who lives in Austria, for his monumental 1,150-page epic “Zeit der Mutigen” (Time of the Brave). The prize, worth €20,000, was awarded for the tenth time on Monday evening and marks the start of Buch Wien week at the Praterateliers in Vienna.
Dimitré Dinev is the winner of the Austrian Book Prize. / Picture: © Österreichische Buchpreis 2025/© Minitta Kandlbauer
Dinev's novel, which he worked on for twenty years, is a multi-layered work spanning four generations and a century, from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy through fascism and communism to the 1990s. The jury praised it as “a humanistic monument of a book that is bigger than Austria”. It drew comparisons to epoch-making works such as Roberto Bolaño's ‘2666’ and Hilary Mantel's “Wolf Hall” trilogy.
Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and living in Austria since 1990, the author combines historical facts with linguistic mastery in his work. The media has also described the intricate epic as a “contemporary historical enlightenment book” and “Stasi novel” that sheds light on the “lead era” of oppression and its deformation of entire generations. At the center is the colorful character Meto, whose amnesia after a gunshot wound to the head allows him to play with identities and family branches. The Danube serves as a constantly flowing, connecting motif.
In his emotional acceptance speech, in which he visibly moved, he thanked his wife and his publisher Kein & Aber, Dinev joked about the sheer length of the work: “I am at a loss for words; everything I have to say is in this book. It also contains every word I know in German.” At the same time, he emphasized the existential significance of the award: a prize cannot make a book better, “but it can make my life easier.”
Debut prize for Miriam Unterthiner – reappraisal of Nazi escape assistance
The debut prize, worth 10,000 euros and donated by the Vienna Chamber of Labor, went to Miriam Unterthiner for her theater text “Blutbrot” (Edition Laurin). Born in Brixen (South Tyrol) in 1994, the author deals with a long-suppressed chapter of South Tyrol's post-war history: the escape of Nazi criminals such as Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele via the Brenner Pass to Italy and South America. The jury emphasized that Unterthiner does not approach the difficult subject matter with documentary realism, but with “great poetic anger and force.” By letting characters such as “The Village” or “The Landscape” speak, she exposes the mechanisms of collective silence. Further information: The play “Blutbrot” premiered on October 10, 2025, at the Theater am Werk in Vienna.
The text had previously been awarded the German Kleist Prize for New Drama 2025, which comes with a guarantee of a world premiere. The world premiere took place on September 26, 2025, at the Theater Aachen.
The shortlist and the award ceremony
In addition to Dinev, the shortlist included other renowned authors such as Monika Helfer with her 750-page collection “Wie die Welt weiterging” (How the World Continued), Marlene Streeruwitz with her New York novel “Auflösungen” (Resolutions), Martin Prinz with “Die letzten Tage” (The Last Days), a reconstruction of the Nazi murder regime, and Verena Stauffer with the experimental poetry collection “Kiki Beach.” The debut shortlist also included Anna Maschik (“Wenn du es heimlich machen willst, musst du die Schafe töten” (If You Want to Do It Secretly, You Have to Kill the Sheep)) and Michèle Yves Pauty (“Familienkörper” (Family Body)).
The award ceremony, organized by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS), the Austrian Booksellers Association (HBV), and the Vienna Chamber of Labor (AK), was broadcast live on Ö1 and hosted by Burgtheater ensemble members Dorothee Hartinger and Philipp Hauß. The young inclusive ensemble Ohrenklang provided the musical accompaniment.