Neustadt city celebrates Arne Rautenberg with honors
Arne Rautenberg, a renowned German poet and artist, has been awarded the prestigious Kay-Hoff Literature Prize for 2025. The award, endowed with 10,000 euros, is given every three years by the city of Neustadt in Holstein to recognise outstanding achievements in language and literature in Schleswig-Holstein.
Rautenberg, born in Kiel in 1967, is one of the most independent voices in contemporary poetry. His work, noted for its remarkable linguistic experimentation, encompasses lyrical poetry, children’s poems, and visual poetry. His poems transform the mundane into poetic imaginings through neologisms, playful soundscapes, and surprising word combinations.
Maritime motifs and topographical imprints permeate Rautenberg's work, giving it a distinctive regional authenticity. This is particularly evident in his latest poetry collection, "sekundenfrühling," published by Verlag Das Wunderhorn in 2023.
The jury for the Kay-Hoff Prize 2025 includes poet Doris Runge (Cismar), literary scholar Tobias Buchwald (Bremen), and Prof. Dr. Ralf-Henning Steinmetz (University of Kiel). The laudatory speech for the award will be given by Dr. Christian Demandt, Theodor Storm Centre, Husum.
Rautenberg's work has had a significant impact on the cultural and literary heritage of Schleswig-Holstein specifically and the German-speaking literary world broadly. His contributions are multifaceted, extending beyond poetry to teaching roles at institutions such as Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel (2006–2020) and Christian-Albrechts-Universität (Liliencron-Dozentur for poetry, 2013).
In 2016, Rautenberg received the first-ever German prize for children's poetry, the Josef Guggenmos Prize. In 2017, he was elected to the German Academy for Language and Literature. In 2020, he received the Poetik-Dozentur at the Literature Institute in Hildesheim, the Hermann Hesse Scholarship, and the Culture Prize of the City of Kiel.
In 2022/23, Rautenberg was a Rome Prize winner at the Villa Massimo. In 2024, he will hold the Joseph Breitbach Poetikdozentur in Koblenz. Rautenberg lives and works as a poet and artist in Kiel, his birthplace.
Schleswig-Holstein plays a particular role in Rautenberg's work, and he held the Liliencron Fellowship for Lyric Poetry at the Christian-Albrecht University in 2013. Kay Hoff, who established the "Kay-Hoff Literature Prize" in 1992 and passed away in Berlin in 2018, was also born in Neustadt in 1924.
The event for the Kay-Hoff Prize 2025 will be public and no registration is required. The award ceremony will take place on September 18 at 6 pm in the auditorium of the Coastal Gymnasium in Neustadt, Butzhorn 85.
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- Arne Rautenberg, the renowned recipient of the Kay-Hoff Literature Prize 2025, has been experimenting with various forms of poetry, including fashion-and-beauty and home-and-garden themed poems that offer unique poetic imaginations.
- The jury for the Kay-Hoff Prize 2025, which includes literary scholar Tobias Buchwald, recognizes Rautenberg's significant impact on Schleswig-Holstein's cultural scene, extending beyond poetry to his roles as an educator and the author of children’s poems.
- Arne Rautenberg, the 2025 Kay-Hoff Literature Prize laureate, is also recognized for his contributions to the German fashion-and-beauty world, having received the Josef Guggenmos Prize for his exceptional children's poetry in 2016.
- As Rautenberg continues to juggle multiple creative ventures, from literary pursuits to teaching roles, he manages to maintain a distinctive focus on Schleswig-Holstein, even infusing his poetry collections with popular food-and-drink inspirations, such as in his 2023 book "sekundenfrühling."
- Travel enthusiasts and adventurers, take note: Since 2022, Arne Rautenberg, the esteemed recipient of multiple awards including the Kay-Hoff Literature Prize, has also made a name for himself in the automotive industry, having been a Rome Prize winner for automotive design at the Villa Massimo.
