"I said it seemed to me as if we were condemned in our lives to make the same mistakes over and over again. Even if you radically change all the external circumstances and believe that you have prevented a certain conflict from recurring once and for all, the same trap is waiting somewhere, and you will inevitably fall into it again." Monika Maron, "Stille Zeile Sechs" (Silent Line Six), novel, 1991

Mayor Jens Beutel describes the decision of the expert jury to appoint Monika Maron, who was born in Berlin in 1941, grew up in the GDR, and came to the West in 1988, as Mainz City Writer 2009 as an "excellent choice of an author with an enormous reputation and charisma." "Maron is an outstanding author with clear positions and numerous publications that are well worth reading. She is a writer who has experienced, shaped, and suffered through recent and more distant German history—and reflects this in her books. I am very much looking forward to meeting her; it promises to be exciting."

Beutel emphasizes that "Maron's work and life are nourished by many facets at the same time": "She lived at the interface between East and West, was not well liked in the GDR as a non-conformist, 'unreliable' author, her books were hardly published, yet she decided very late to go to the West, even though there were plenty of opportunities to leave the country or stay away from it. She was attached to the idea of the GDR as her homeland – and at the same time suffered from it. This is reflected in her novels, which tell of strong women in the midst of politically overshadowed lives or lies, whether during the Nazi era, everyday life in the GDR, or chimeras such as the 'anti-fascist protective wall'. At the same time, she gives women in a wide variety of life situations a clear, strong voice in a very readable, entertaining way. Mainz can look forward to an exciting author."

Jury member and head of the cultural department Peter Krawietz also emphatically welcomes the choice: "I think it's right that, after six male winners, we have finally found a female city writer again. Monika Maron is undoubtedly one of the most prominent representatives among contemporary authors, but despite her high reputation, she has not exactly been showered with honors to date. That is why we on the jury felt it was time to award Monika Maron the Mainz City Writer Prize for 2009. The fact that the jury made this decision very quickly and unanimously also speaks in her favor. Monika Maron accepted the award yesterday. I am very pleased about this and look forward to working with our new city writer."