Buch Wien 25

Lindita Arapi, born in Albania, belongs to the circle of the so-called Albanian literary avant-garde. She publishes poetry collections, novels, essays and journalistic pieces. Her first novel, Schlüsselmädchen, was awarded the Book of the Year Award by Kult Academy in Albania and translated into German. Her most recent novel, Die Eingemauerte, is currently being translated into German and is forthcoming in Weidle Verlag. In addition to her writing, Lindita Arapi works as a freelance radio editor for Deutsche Welle (Bonn) and translator.

Iulian Ciocan was born in Chișinău in 1968. He is an author, journalist and literary critic. His five novels have been translated into ten languages and published in numerous countries. He has received several literary awards, and in April 2024, the French-German cultural channel Arte broadcast a documentary about his novels published in France.

Mascha Dabić, born in 1981 in Sarajevo, has lived in Austria since 1992. She studied Translation Studies (English and Russian) and Political Science and works in Vienna as a translator and conference interpreter. Her debut novel Reibungsverluste came out in 2017.

Born in Vienna in 1988, is a Serbian author who lives in Austria and publishes in German. Dinić grew up in Belgrade, moved to Austria in 2008 and studied German language and literature and Jewish cultural history in Salzburg. In 2012 he published poetry and prose for the first time in anthologies and journals. He has been the guest of many residencies, including in Brno/CZ, Paliano/IT and Chretzturm/CH and Stadtschreiber in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm/D, Schwaz/Tyrol and Halle/D. In 2012, his first volume of poetry Namen: Pfade: (Edition Tandem) got published, followed in 2019 with his first novel “Die guten Tage” (Zsolnay).

Brigitte Döbert, born in Offenbach am Main in 1959, has been living and working in Berlin since 2010, having worked in Mainz, Zagreb, Belgrade, Wuppertal and Cologne. Her livelihood and one of her passions is translating literature, including works by Bora Ćosić and Miljenko Jergović. She has received several awards for her work, including the Leipzig Book Fair Prize and the Straelen Translation Prize from the Kunststiftung NRW.

Marija Girevska, born in 1980, is a literary translator, author and theologian. She is the author of three books on English Surrealism, gothic literature, and the complex connections between James Joyce’s Ulysses and the Bible. For her Macedonian translation of Ulysses, she received the prestigious “Golden Feather” prize in 2013. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in English at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Skopje.

Žiga X. Gombač, born in Ljubljana in 1976, is a writer, journalist and host of the first youth podcast on Slovenian national radio. He has written and published over 178 stories, poems and comics for children, as well as works for adults. His books have won numerous awards and been translated into several languages.

Andrea Grill was born in Bad Ischl and studied in Salzburg, among other places. She did her PhD at the University of Amsterdam on the evolution of endemic butterflies in Sardinia. Grill writes poetry, stories and novels and translates from Albanian and Dutch. Her translations include the novel Milchkuss by Mimoza Ahmeti, the poetry collection Kinder der Natur by Luljeta Lleshanaku and Der Schlaf des Oktopus by Ervina Halili. As an author, her work include Das Paradies des Doktor Caspari (2015), Cherubino (2019) and most recently Bio-Diversi-Was? Reise in die fantastische Welt der Artenvielfalt and Seepferdchen, both published in 2023.

Nadja Grössing, born in Vienna in 1969, studied German and Finno-Ugric languages and is a member of ‘IG Übersetzerinnen Übersetzer’.

Florin Irimia, born in 1976, lives in Iași, Romania, as a writer and university lecturer. Since his literary debut in 2009, he has published three novels and two collections of short stories, as well as Romanian translations of Margaret Atwood’s works. He is one of the most ambitious writers in the contemporary Romanian literary scene and has already received numerous scholarships.

Günter Kaindlstorfer, born in Bad Ischl in 1963, is an Austrian literary critic, TV moderator, writer, and journalist.

Anna Kove (born 1968 in Pogradec, Albania) is a renowned Albanian author and translator. She studied Albanian Language and Literature at the University of Tirana (1986–1990) and Media and Intercultural Communication at the European University Viadrina (2002–2004). She is considered one of the leading translators of German-language literature, having translated works by Paul Celan, Hermann Broch, Herta Müller, Ilse Aichinger, Günter Grass, Daniel Kehlmann, Peter Stamm, and Christine Lavant. She has received numerous awards for her literary work, most recently the National Poetry Prize “Buharaja” in 2025.

Born in 1980 in Murska Sobota/SLO, grew up in Ljubljana. Studied Comparative Literature in Ljubljana and Romance Studies in Vienna. Lives as a freelance author in the countryside between Vienna and Bratislava and writes short stories, novels and poems in German and Slovenian. “Der Kreis des Weberknechts” (2019, 3rd ed.) is her debut novel. She is the recipient of the Exil-Literaturpreis “schreiben zwischen den kulturen” 2008, the “Kritiško sito” for the best book of the year in Slovenia 2022, and the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 2022.

Anna Ospelt, born in 1987 in Vaduz, studied Sociology, Media, and Education Sciences in Basel. She publishes poetry and short stories in literary magazines and anthologies. Her work Wurzelstudien earned her, among other recognitions, a scholarship from the Stiftung Kunst + Kultur within the framework of the German Prize for Nature Writing, and she was nominated for the Clemens-Brentano Prize. With Frühe Pflanzung, she was nominated for the European Literature Prize (EUPL) 2023. Anna Ospelt lives in Vaduz.

Mathias Ospelt (born 1963) is a writer, ghostwriter, librettist, satirist, cabaret artist and event organiser (Liechtenstein Literature Days and Kleintheater Schlösslekeller). In recent years, he has published a collection of short stories entitled Wege. Gänge. (Paths. Passages.) and the satire Originale (Originals). He is currently president of the Liechtenstein P.E.N. Club.

Angelika Salvisberg born in Fribourg / CH, studied German and communication sciences and went on to work as a dramaturge at various theatres in Switzerland and Germany. From 2008-2019 head of the “Literature and Society” department at the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. Since 2020 Director of the book and literature network TRADUKI and freelance cultural manager in the fields of cultural evaluation and cultural consulting (e.g. for Evalure. Centre for Cultural Evaluation Zurich and the Cultural Department of the City of Zurich).

Oliver Jens Schmitt, born in 1973, has been Professor of Southeast European History at the University of Vienna since 2005 and Scientific Director at the Institute for the History of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Balkan Region at the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2017. He is considered one of the foremost experts on the social and cultural history of Eastern Europe.

Tamara Štajner was born in Novo mesto, Slovenia, in 1987. She moved to Vienna at the age of nineteen and completed her master’s degree in viola performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Her first volume of poetry, Schlupflöcher, was published in 2022, followed by Raupenfell, her first novel, in 2023. In 2024, she was invited by Brigitte Schwens-Harrant to read at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize and won the Kelag Prize with her text Luft nach unten. She lives and works in Vienna.

Annemarie Türk, born in 1953 in Klagenfurt, studied history, political science and Slovenian language as well as cultural management and sponsoring. From 1992 to 2013, she was head of cultural promotion and sponsorship at KulturKontakt Austria and was responsible for cultural cooperation with and in 15 countries in Eastern and Southeast Europe. Since April 2013 she has been working as a freelance curator and lecturer for various educational institutions, cultural organisations and universities.

Milica Vučković, born in 1989, lives and works in Belgrade. She studied painting and has received several awards for her literary works. ‘Der tödliche Ausgang von Sportverletzungen’ (The Deadly Outcome of Sports Injuries) is her first novel to be published in German.

Rebekka Zeinzinger was born in 1992 in Lower Austria. She studied German, History and Comparative Literature in Vienna and Geneva. In addition, she completed several internships in different publishing houses and worked for several museums. After completing her studies, she moved to Sarajevo where she teaches German as a Foreign Language and Austrian Literature and Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy. She started translating from the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian in 2019, after completing the Premuda Summer School in Literary Translation. She lives and works as a translator from the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian in Vienna.