Slovenian writer Tamara Štajner has won one of the awards given out as part of the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, an accolade for yet unpublished literary works in German.

Given out annually by the city of Klagenfurt, this year's Ingeborg Bachmann Prize went to Sarajevo-born author Tijan Sila, while Štajner received one of the accompanying honours, the Kelag Prize, on 30 June. The Ingeborg Bachmann Prize comes with a €25,000 cheque and the Kelag Prize brings the winner €10,000.

Štajner was honoured for Luft nach Unten (Room for Less), a piece about a complex relationship between a daughter and her mother.

The author described the text to the Slovenian Press Agency as a multilayered story, an internal monologue of the daughter addressing her mother, intertwined with memories and present experiences, also touching on the wars in the Balkans.

Štajner is a professional violinist and author, writing poetry and literature in Slovenian and German. She has received a number of awards. She grew up in Slovenia and went on to study music in Vienna.

Alongside Štajner and Sila, twelve other authors were in the running for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize this year. The prize has been presented since 1977, including twice to Slovenian authors: Maja Haderlap (2011) and Ana Marwan (2022).