FUCK NATURE START WRITING: VERLEIHUNG DEUTSCHER PREIS FÜR NATURE WRITING 2026

Alexander Schnickmann’s award-winning text, titled *Fuck Nature Start Writing*, unfolds as an editorially framed documentary, thereby subverting expectations of the nature writing genre. Through a montage of emails, traces, and omissions, he reflects on the very premises of literary nature writing and blurs the boundaries between archive, fiction, and criticism. The result is a formally original, linguistically precise work that reexamines the relationship between humans, language, and nature. The award winner, along with scholarship recipients Christoph Szalay and Kameliya Taneva, will discuss their works and read excerpts from them.

In collaboration with the publisher Matthes & Seitz Berlin and in cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency and the Art and Nature Foundation. 

Alexander Schnickmann 
lives in Berlin as a writer. In 2023, he was awarded the Leonce and Lena Prize. His debut, *requiem*, was published in 2024; most recently, he published the poetry collection *Gestirne*—both with Matthes & Seitz Berlin.

Lena Schnabl 
lives in Berlin as a freelance reporter and author. She studied Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, and Political Science in Munich and Sapporo. Her reports have appeared in publications including *Zeit Magazin*, *Süddeutsche Zeitung*, *NZZ am Sonntag*, *brand eins*, and *Chrismon*. 

Kameliya Taneva 
lives in Cologne and writes poetry. In 2024, she was nominated for the 32nd Open Mike. Since 2021, she has been a participant in the “Literaturwerkstatt in Darmstadt,” led by Martina Weber.

The event will take place on the backstage area of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

The award-winning text *Fuck Nature, Start Writing* will be published on September 3, 2026, by Matthes & Seitz Berlin; you can pre-order the book here.