The Ludwig Harig Scholarship 2026, endowed with 10,000 euros by the Minister of Education and Culture (MBK), is awarded this year to Pascal Richmann for the literary project "PECH HABEN".
The scholarship supports the work of authors in the realization of their literary project. The official award ceremony for the scholarship takes place at the beginning of November.
Minister of Education and Culture Christine Streichert-Clivot: “Good literature can build bridges – between past and present, between people and perspectives. It makes history tangible and helps us better understand the challenges of our time. Especially for young people, it opens up spaces where they can ask questions, form their own opinions, and develop empathy. Pascal Richmann’s novel project impressively demonstrates how literature can make complex connections narratable and at the same time touching. We need voices like his – which is why I am very pleased that we can support his work with the Ludwig Harig Scholarship.”
The jury justifies the awarding of the Ludwig Harig Scholarship 2026 to Pascal Richmann as follows:
“The Ludwig Harig Scholarship 2026, endowed with 10,000 euros by the Minister of Education and Culture (MBK), is awarded this year to Pascal Richmann for the literary project ‘PECH HABEN’. As the consequences of anthropogenic climate change shape our present and threaten our future, this novel project, which illuminates the genesis of industrial oil extraction in Alsace with an equally analytical and poetic perspective and tells the beginnings of modern progress history as a history of destruction, highlights the potential of literature to transform complex historical and political questions into emotional and intellectually challenging stories. Pascal Richmann looks back over the past 500 years with outstanding elegance and linguistic precision; he narrates with accuracy and surprise, laconic yet full of passion. By shifting timeframes in his narrated periods, he changes perspectives, questions literary genre boundaries, and combines narrative, reportage, and anthropological viewpoints. The essential focus is not only on telling the past, but also on making the present readable and understandable. Pascal Richmann shares with Ludwig Harig not only this endeavor to understand history in relation to the present but also the interested narrative gaze on the German-French border region.”
Pascal Richmann (* 1987 in Dortmund)
Pascal Richmann studied Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Heidelberg and Literary Writing in Hildesheim. He writes theater texts, essays, reports, and narratives. Pascal Richmann is a member of the Academy for Lethality and Solutions. His first book was published by Hanser in 2017: about Germany, about everything. Other works include: One Misses This Planet (Spector Books, 2021). Together with Enis Maci, he published the novel "Pando" (Suhrkamp) in 2024.
Background
The Ludwig Harig Scholarship is being awarded for the eighth time by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The scholarship is endowed with 10,000 euros and is limited to two years. With the travel and research scholarship, the MBK supports the work of authors in realizing their literary projects – modeled after Ludwig Harig himself, who enjoyed traveling to be inspired not only by original locations on site but also to simultaneously collect, review, and research.
