The German Academy for Language and Literature is exclusively dedicated to the German language and its literature. Its members include renowned writers, critics, and translators as well as linguists and literary scholars, but also jurists and scientists whose work is characterized by a particular interest in language. The Academy’s members, around 180 in total, are not only from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, but also many other countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Academy views its primary aims as the following:

• Attentively following the development of language in conjunction with the competence of linguists, literature and literary criticism.
• Initiating dialogue about neglected or marginalized literature through publishing.
• Discussing literary, linguistic and culturally critical topics in cooperation with European academies of literature and related institutions in Germany.
• Supporting the free exchange of opinions in speech and writing and contributing to a differentiated culture of debate.
• Granting awards to excellent authors: the »Georg-Büchner-Preis« (Prize for German literature), the »Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Preis für Kritik und Essay« (Prize for Literary Criticism and Essay Writing), the »Sigmund-Freud-Preis für wissenschaftliche Prosa« (Prize for Academic Prose), the »Johann-Heinrich-Voß-Preis für Übersetzung« (Prize for Translation) and the »Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis für die Vermittlung deutscher Kultur im Ausland« (Prize for the imparting of German Culture Abroad).

The Academy’s work is financed by institutional organisations – the Federal Republic of Germany, the community of German states via their combined cultural foundation, the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the Federal State of Hesse and the city of Darmstadt – as well as private sponsors.

All grammatical masculine forms on the website refer equally to feminine and masculine persons.