Karl-Markus Gauß

Austria

A short biography

He was born on 14th May in 1954 in Salzburg as the youngest of the four children to the Danubian-Swabian parents, who came from Vojvodina. He lives and works in Salzburg. He studied History and Germanic Studies from 1972 to 1979. Then he worked as a freelance critic and writer. Since 1991 he has been a publisher and an editor of a magazine »Literatur und Kritik«. He regularly writes for newspapers and magazines, e.g. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, die Zeit, Wiener Presse and Der Standard. He is married and has two children.

Among other acknowledgements for his work he received in 1997 the European essay prize Charles Veillon and in 2001 he received the Honorary prize of Austrian booksellers for tolerance.
His books have been translated into 14 languages.

Bibliography (a selection):

1989 Ink Is Bitter. Literary portraits from Barbaropa. Tinte is Bitter. Literarische Porträts aus Barbaropa. (The Wieser Publishing House.)
1991 The Destruction of Central Europe. Die Vernichtung Mitteleuropas. (The Wieser Publishing House.)
1997 The European Alphabet. Das Europäische alphabet. (Zsolnay Vverlag.)
1998 Into Undiscovered Austria. Reactions and attacks. Ins Unentdeckte Österreich. Nachrufe und Attacken. (Zsolnay Verlag.)
1999 The Man Who Wanted to Go into the Freezer. Der Mann, der ins Gefrierfach wollte. (Zsolnay verlag.)
2001 The Europeans About to Become Extinct. Die sterbenden Europäer. (Zsolnay Verlag.)
2002 With Me, Without Me. Mit mir, ohne mich. (Zsolnay Verleg.)
2003 From Near, From Far. Von nah, von fern. (Zsolnay Verlag.)
2004 Dog Eaters from Svinia. Die Hundeesser von Svinia. (Zsolnay Verlag.)
2005 Pub Discussions in the Expanding Zone. Wirtshausgespräche in der Erweiterungszone. (Otto Müller-Verlag.)
2005 The Widely Spread Germans. Die versprengten Deutschen. (to be published in September at Zsolnay Verlag.)

Literary prizes (a selection)

1989 The Portorož International Prize »Writers’ Meeting at the Border«
1994 The Austrian State Prize for culture journalism
1997 The European Essay Prize Charles Veillon
1998 The Bruno Kreiski Prize for a political book
1999 The Salzburg Economy Prize
2001 The Honorary Prize of the Austrian booksellers for tolerance.