Zora del Buono wins the Swiss German-speaking Book Prize

Zora del Buono received, Sunday November 17 at the Basel theater, the 17^e Swiss Book Prize 2024, endowed with 30,000 Swiss francs, for his novel Because of him (« Because of him)published by CH Beck.

The jury praised the universality of the novel, although it deals with the death of the author’s father, which occurred in a car accident when she was only eight months old. Sixty years later, Zora del Buono sets out to retrace the circumstances of the tragedy and investigate who was responsible.

“With astonishing lightness, Zora del Buono weaves factual data and scenes from personal life into this dense investigative novel. His unique language explores themes like guilt, loss and reconciliation. “Seinetwegen” is a text of great sobriety, but of exceptional existential force”indicates the jury, describing a work skillfully combining statistics, court documents and autobiographical fragments.

Created in 2008 by the LiteraturBasel association and the Swiss Association of Booksellers and Publishers (SBVV), this prize aims to stimulate public debates around German-speaking Swiss authors. It is accompanied by an active promotional campaign in bookstores and a reading tour in Switzerland and neighboring countries.

Because of him has not yet been translated into French.