Buch Wien 2023

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.

Born in Sarajevo in 1981, studied translation studies (English and Russian), translates literature from the Balkan region. She lives in Vienna and has worked as a journalist on the phenomenon of migration (daStandard.at). She works as an interpreter in the field of asylum and conferences and teaches at the University of Vienna. Her debut novel Reibungsverluste was shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2017; in 2018 she received the Literature Promotion Prize of the City of Vienna.

Katja Gasser, born in Klagenfurt in 1975, wrote her PhD on Ilse Aichinger and Günter Eich. From 1999-2001, she was a university lecturer at Oxford/London. Since 2008, she is the head of the literature department of ORF TV. Among her film work are productions with/about Marica Bodrožić, Friederike Mayröcker, Margaret Atwood and the Austrian author Florjan Lipuš, who writes in his mother tongue Slovene. In 2017, she was jury speaker for the German Book Prize. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Austrian State Prize for Literary Critic – the first time in the history of the award, that a TV journalist was honoured with it.

Tatjana Gromača was born in 1971 in Sisak, and lives in central Istria near Pula. She studied comparative literature and philosophy in Zagreb (graduated in 1995) and had been a long-time contributor for the legendary, recently closed down Croatian weekly Feral Tribune, writing literary reportages, book reviews, and articles. Since 2008, she has been a cultural columnist and reporter at the daily newspaper Novi list and has been writing poetry, prose and essays. She received several prizes for her work, among others a grant of the Academy of Arts Berlin.

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

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

Nikolaus Kinsky lives and works as an actor, director and speaker in Vienna.

Erwin Köstler is an Austrian translator of Slovenian literature and a freelance literary scholar. His translation work covers all literary genres and literature from different time periods. However, since the turn of the millennium the focus has been on contemporary Slovenian prose. In 1999 Köstler received, among others, the Austrian State Prize for Literary Translators Translatio. In 2020 he was the recipient of the Fabjan Hafner Prize.

Mojca Kumerdej, born in 1964, is a Slovenian author, philosopher and journalist. After studying philosophy and cultural sociology at the University of Ljubljana, she made her debut with her satirical novel “Krst nad Triglavom”. This was followed by two volumes of stories, which were translated into numerous languages. For her second novel “Kronosova žetev” (Chronos erntet) she received the renowned Prešeren Fund Award. The novel is available in the German translation by Erwin Köstler by Wallstein Verlag.

Vinko Möderndorfer, born 1958 in Celje, studied directing in Ljubljana. Möderndorfer lives in Slovenia as a director and author. His work includes numerous plays and film scripts, but also radio plays, short stories, children’s books, novels and poetry. He is one of Slovenia’s most versatile and successful authors and has received numerous awards for both his directing and literary work. The extensive novel “Die andere Vergangenheit” (orig. “Druga preteklost”, 2017) is considered his masterpiece.

Petra Nagenkögel is an Austrian author. Nagenkögel studied German, history, and philosophy in Salzburg. Since 1996, she is director of the literary association prolit at the Literaturhaus Salzburg.

Robert Pichler works as a historical anthropologist and photographer at the “Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Research” at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is a board member of the International Association for Southeast European Anthropology (InASEA) and chairman of the Center for Balkan Societies and Cultures. He has been a research assistant on research projects at various German and Austrian universities. In 2004, together with Wolfgang Petritsch, he received the Bruno Kreisky Prize for the political book of the year. As a photographer, he works at the interface between documentary and art photography.

Bojan Savić Ostojić, born in 1983, lives in Belgrade as an author and literary translator from French. “Nichts gehört niemandem” is his second novel. He has published several volumes of poetry and prose, autobiographical essays and a short novel, as well as the short story collection “Punkt”, which is also available in German.

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.

Marjeta (Metka) Wakounig, born 1983 in Klagenfurt, is an Austrian translator of Slovenian literature and editor. She is a Carinthian Slovenian.