Literature Gerhard Meister is awarded the ZKB Schiller Prize
The playwright, spoken word artist and radio playwright Gerhard Meister has been awarded the ZKB Schiller Prize for his book "Cha me das therapiere". The prize is endowed with 20,000 francs.
06.05.2026, 11:47
SDA
Meister's texts impress with "their linguistic wit, thematic breadth and the variety of attempts to linguistically fend off the challenges and impositions of the world", according to a press release issued by the Swiss Schiller Foundation on Wednesday. The ZKB Schiller Prize is awarded by the Zürcher Kantonalbank at the suggestion of the foundation.
The work "Cha me das therapiere", for which Gerhard Meister receives the prize, brings together current spoken word texts. It was published in the "edition spoken script" by the publishing house "Gesunder Menschenversand".
"Sometimes in High German, sometimes in Bernese German, occasionally in verse, mostly in prose, the short texts in 'Cha me das therapiere' form a loose sequence, but not a random hodgepodge," reads the jury's statement. And further: "They are grouped around a series of key themes, which they tackle with humor and in an astonishingly diverse way."
The prize is awarded annually to authors born or living in the canton of Zurich for works published in the previous year. Gerhard Meister will receive the prize on June 1 at the Literaturhaus Zürich.
