Swiss writers take part in Ingeborg Bachmann literary competition

Four Swiss authors will be represented at one of the most prestigious literary competitions in the German language, the Ingeborg Bachmann competition. The contest gets underway in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt on Wednesday.

Four Swiss authors will be represented at one of the most prestigious literary competitions in the German language, the Ingeborg Bachmann competition. The 23rd contest, named after the Austrian writer, gets underway in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt on Wednesday.

This year’s competition jury chose 16 authors to read excerpts from their writing. The prizes will be awarded on Sunday, after the jury has discussed the texts.

The Swiss competitors are Ruth Erat, Peter Stamm, Christian Uetz and Aglaja Veteranyi.

Ruth Erat’s first book, “Moosbrand”, or “Burning Moss”, will be published in August; Peter Stamm is experiencing success with his first novel, “Agnes”. Christian Uetz’s poetry talent has been described as a new insider-tip, while his skills at writing prose are to be revealed at Klagenfurt. Aglaja Veteranyi has already made an impression at the Literary Days in the Swiss town of Solothurn.

The Ingeborg Bachmann prize was last awarded to a Swiss writer – Reto Hänny – in 1994. Before that, Swiss authors achieved a spate of wins in the early 1980s: Urs Jäggi (1981); Jürg Amman (1982); Erica Pedretti (1984) and Hermann Burger (1985).

The prizes awarded at the end of this year’s competition are worth a total of SFr 70,000.


Sources: dpa, sda-ats