Eugen Ruge will remain Mainz City Writer in 2021 (due to the coronavirus pandemic). The prominent author, born in Soswa (Ural) in 1954 and raised in the GDR, is the 36th recipient of the prestigious literary prize awarded by ZDF, 3sat, and the city of Mainz. The award ceremony for the prize, which is endowed with 12,500 euros, took place in March 2020.

The jury said: "Eugen Ruge turns biography into great literature. With empathy for his often contradictory characters, who are exposed to contemporary history, Ruge tells of loyalty and betrayal in times of dictatorship. He is a master at depicting family relationships and life plans, written in clear language with a confident feel for dialogue, tempo, and punch lines."

Eugen Ruge was born in the Soviet Union and grew up in East Berlin as the son of the well-known GDR historian Wolfgang Ruge. The graduate mathematician, who initially worked as a scientist in earthquake research and emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1988, began his writing career with plays and radio plays. For his debut novel "In Times of Fading Light," which critic Iris Radisch praised as a "GDR Buddenbrook novel," he was awarded the aspekte Literature Prize and the German Book Prize in 2011.
In 2017, the novel, which became a bestseller, was made into a film starring Bruno Ganz in his last role. His most recent publications are the volumes Theaterstücke (Plays) and Annäherung (Approach) as well as the novels Cabo de Gata and Follower. In 2019, Ruge published his novel Metropol, in which he once again takes up the story of his family, this time in communist exile in Moscow in the 1930s.

Marianne Grosse, head of the city's cultural affairs department, is thrilled with the selection of the 2011 book prize winner: "Eugen Ruge didn't start writing novels until the late age of 57 – what a stroke of luck! Readers are grateful for this decision, because Ruge's style of storytelling has a very unique, subtle, and captivating signature. His stories flow in a calm tone – and repeatedly captivate readers with their small subplots and observations. I am very happy that the city of Mainz is able to honor Eugen Ruge, a truly outstanding writer, with the City Writer's Prize."

Ruge, who has also made a name for himself with stage plays, radio plays, and as a translator of Anton Chekhov's dramas, lives in Berlin and on the island of Rügen. In addition to the aspekte Literature Prize and the German Book Prize (both in 2011), he received the Alfred Döblin Prize in 2009, among other awards.

Eugen Ruge—like his predecessors Eva Menasse, Anna Katharina Hahn, Abbas Khider, Clemens Meyer, Feridun Zaimoglu, and Judith Schalansky—will produce a documentary on a topic of his choice in collaboration with ZDF and move into the completely renovated City Writer's apartment in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.