Julia Schoch receives the Rome Prize: Potsdam author is allowed to spend ten months in an Italian villa

The Villa Massimo belongs to the German Academy of Rome, which is supported by the federal government. The Rome Prize is considered one of the most important awards for German artists and artists working in Germany. The stay is intended to enable composers, writers, architects and visual artists to stay in Rome without financial constraints. In addition to free accommodation and a studio, it includes a cash stipend of 2,500 euros per month.

This is not the first Italian scholarship for the award-winning author Julia Schoch, born in Bad Saarow in 1974. In 2011 she was already a guest at Casa Baldi, which also belongs to the German Academy in Rome. Numerous other prizes followed, including the honorary gift from the German Schiller Foundation in 2022 for her entire literary work, and the Federal Cross of Merit in 2025.

Julia Schoch has lived in Potsdam since 1986. After studying German and Romance languages ​​and several stays abroad, she published her first collection of short stories, “The Body of the Salamander,” in 2001. The novel “Attendances with Mattok” was published in 2004, followed by “At the Speed ​​of Summer” in 2009 and “Self-Portrait with Bonaparte” in 2012.

Julia Schoch regularly translates literature from French, including books by crime writer Fred Vargas. Most recently, she published the widely praised autofictional trilogy “Biography of a Woman,” whose parts “The Incident,” “The Lovers of the Century” and “Wild After a Wild Dream” became bestsellers. “And next year to Rome. Thank you!” wrote Schoch on social media. “I’m looking forward to autumn 2027, when things start.”