Johann Sziklai (born 1947 in

Dingolfing Dingolfing is a town in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the Landkreis (district) Dingolfing-Landau. Dingolfing is home of a BMW assembly plant. History The area now called Dingolfing was first mentioned in ''Tinguluinga'' in the y ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) is a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and a teacher. He studied

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history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

and in Bangor,

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

. Since 1975, he has been teaching at the Gymnasium in Plochingen am Neckar. Sziklai writes mainly poetry and short

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

. His first volume of poetry, ''Schildkrötenwanderung'' (migration of the tortoises), was published in

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. Three additional volumes of poetry have followed. The most recent was published in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and has the title ''Kreideweißheiten'' (chalk tales). As the title suggests, in ''Kreideweißheiten'' Sziklai takes a hard look at the school system in Germany. Dealing with social and political issues is typical for much of Sziklai's work. His style of clear, brief statements and questions reads like prose and reflects his concerns with the realities of life.

Sources

* 1947 births Living people 20th-century German poets 21st-century German poets 21st-century German male writers German people of Hungarian descent People from Dingolfing-Landau German male poets 20th-century German male writers {{Germany-poet-stub