We congratulate Heike Geißler, former Dorothea Schlegel Artist-in-Residence, on being awarded the Heinrich-Böll-Preis by the City of Cologne.

According to the jury, Geißler's work demonstrates how literature engages with the pressures of optimisation and the demand for constant productivity in ways that are at once spirited, empathetic, subversive and unexpected. Her writing repeatedly addresses the conditions of contemporary working life, combining literary experimentation with a keen awareness of precarious social realities.

In the past year, Geißler has also received the Bayerischer Buchpreis for her essay Verzweiflungen (2025) and the Klopstock-Preis für Neue Literatur for her overall literary work. Her recent publications include the novel Die Woche (2022) as well as the essays Liegen (2022) and Arbeiten (2025). The novel Michaela Kohlhaas is forthcoming with Suhrkamp in May.

During her residency at EXC 2020, Geißler explored reading as a practice that unfolds between intimate and public contexts. The lecture performance Die Welt z/erlesen. Reading the world in/to pieces, developed during her time at the Cluster, will take place at Lettrétage in May. The event is co-organised by Cluster member Barbara Bausch.