Frankfurt - Anselm Kiefer, a German sculptor who has been awarded the German Book Trade Peace Prize this year, on Friday called peace "an unachievable utopia."

Kiefer, 63, who lives has lived in France since 1993, is the first artist to be given the annual 25,000-euro (34,000-dollar) prize, which is usually given to book authors who promote international understanding.

Gottfried Honnefelder, chairman of the Boersenverein, the German book publishers' and book-sellers' association, said the award showed that artists were also in a sense writers.

He said Friday the prize rules allowed the award to anyone active in literature, scholarship or the arts.