Andrea Rottmann, author of Queer Lives across the Wall: Desire and Danger in Divided Berlin, 1945–1970 (University of Toronto Press), has been awarded the Waterloo Centre for German Studies Book Prize for first books published in 2023.
Dr. Rottmann, a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin, has written a book tracing the everyday lives - both public and private - of queer Berliners from the end of the Nazi regime in 1945 through to the emergence of the gay and lesbian liberation movements of the 1970s. The book was lauded by the jury for its ability to bring the reader closer to understanding the lives people lived, connecting their troubles with the “big ideas” that animate scholarly work.
An accessible book that exemplifies many of the objectives of the WCGS Book Prize, it will be an important touchstone for many working in queer studies, German studies, and points in between. As one juror put it, "this book is not only clearly written, it's beautifully written." The photographs from real people's lives that illustrate the book bring into even sharper focus the "places where life is actually lived."
The Waterloo Centre for German Studies, a research institute at the University of Waterloo, promotes scholarly inquiry into all aspects of the German-speaking world. As part of this mandate, the WCGS takes great pride in sponsoring an award that celebrates the dynamic and engaging scholarship occurring in all fields of German Studies. The prize is adjudicated by a jury of German studies scholars chaired by James M. Skidmore, Director of the Centre. Members of this year's jury were Peter C. Caldwell (Rice University), Christina Kraenzle (York University), Suzanne Marchand (Louisiana State University), and Ernest Schonfield (University of Glasgow).
The prize consists of a cash award of CAD $3,000 and an invitation to give a public talk on her book.
For more information, please contact wcgs@uwaterloo.ca or visit our website where you'll find all of the books shortlisted for this year's prize.