Clemens J. Setz receives Austria’s top arts award

Writer Clemens J. Setz received the 2026 Grand Austrian State Prize in Vienna on Wednesday, the country’s highest artistic honour, ORF reported. The award recognises his “exceptional literary forms,” among other aspects of his work.

The arts senate, which recommends the recipient, described Setz as one of the most important German-language writers of the moment, including among younger generations. It said his poetry and inventive use of language, at times reminiscent of James Joyce, had helped expand German-language literature over the past 15 years.

Setz, who is from Graz and lives in Vienna, writes about human extremes and social outsiders. The senate also praised his sharp observations of everyday life and command of language in his early work. Culture Minister Andreas Babler presented the award certificate, and literary critic Sebastian Fasthuber delivered the laudation.

The prize carries a €30,000 award. Setz, 43, has received several other literary honours, including the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2011 for “Die Liebe zur Zeit des Mahlstädter Kindes,” the Georg Büchner Prize in 2021 and the Austrian Book Prize in 2023 for “Monde vor der Landung.” He also received the Bremen Literature Prize in 2009 for “Die Frequenzen.”

Setz is due to read from his story collection “Mein Leben als Noiseband” at Literaturhaus Graz, a literary venue, on 29 October. His essay collection “Die Fortführung der Poesie mit anderen Mitteln,” featuring published and unpublished essays on the future of writing in the age of artificial intelligence, is scheduled for release on 24 November.

Setz will also join the arts senate, a body of up to 21 Grand Austrian State Prize recipients who serve voluntarily for life. The 2025 prize was awarded posthumously to painter Herbert Brandl, who died shortly before the announcement.