24 January 2012
Heinrich Heine Association from Düsseldorf awarded their medal for 2012 to Bosnian writer Dževad Karahasan. The prize is awarded for the first time to an author who does not write in German.
Previous award recipients are Max Brod (1965), Marcel Reich-Ranicki (1976), Martin Walser (1981), Sarah Kirsch (1992), Ruth Klüger (1997), Herta Müller (2009) and others.