The winner of the 2024 Phantastikpreis der Stadt Wetzlar (Fantasy Prize of the City of Wetzlar) has been announced.

• Phytopia Plus by Zara Zerbe (Verbrecher Verlag)

The public awards ceremony will take place on September 13 as part of the 40th “Wetzlar Days of Fantasy”. The prize has been awarded since 1984 and is worth € 4,000.

The eleven-member expert jury (consisting of representatives from the book trade, publishing industry, libraries, schools, universities and the media) selected Zara Zerbe’s novel from 158 submitted titles.

Zara Zerbe’s debut novel convinced the jury by using fantasy to address the problem of social differences in the context of mortality. In addition to the very present theme of survival against the backdrop of climate change, the novel contains reflections on social stratification in the world of tomorrow, on discrimination against the poor, on unscrupulous corporate managers, powerless unions, dementia, migration and AI. The focus, however, is on the lovingly drawn characters and their strategies for coping with everyday life. Stylistically excellent, the sensitive descriptions of Aylin’s everyday life alternate between precarious employment, caring for her ageing grandfather and looking after her own plants.

“In contrast to the human efforts to survive, the voices of the plants, which function like a choir, are another fantastic element that simultaneously suggests the futility of human action and hope beyond human standards. All this makes the novel a text that can introduce complex themes and invite discussion about the design of a just future. Overall, Phytopia Plus offers an original and exciting read that inspires further thought through its open ending,” explains the jury.

As to why Wetzlar, a town of 52,000 people in Hessen, has its own fantasy award — Wetzlar is home to the Phantastische Bibliothek-Wetzlar (Fantasy Library Wetzlar), which has the largest publicly accessible SFF collection in the world. The aim of the library is to collect everything in print which belongs to the categories of science fiction, fantasy, literature, classical fantasy, horror, utopian novels, fantastic journey and adventure novels, fairy tales, saga, myths, etc. At the moment the library is in possession of 150,000 titles.