Margareth "Maxi" Obexer is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

- Italian writer originally from

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

in northern Italy. She is a prolific freelance author of

theatre works Theatre Works is a theatre venue, presenter and producer of independent theatre in St Kilda, Melbourne. Theatre Works was founded as Theatreworks, a theatre company, in 1980 by a group of young graduates from the Victorian College of the Arts ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s, and other narrative pieces.

Life

Margareth Obexer was born in

Brixen Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic and ...

in the

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

which since

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

has been part of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Despite the best efforts of the central government, the region remains overwhelmingly German speaking: it was into a German speaking family that Obexer was born. She attended school in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

, a short distance to the south of Brixen, where she also mastered Italian. She has subsequently relocated to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and, more recently, taken German citizenship. She has come to prominence increasingly on account of the political nature of her plays, audio plays, and essays. She studied general and comparative literature,

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and theatre studies in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

. While she was still a student her prose works, stage plays and radio dramas attracted commendation. One consequence of that was stipendiums received from both the Literary Colloquium in

and the city's

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. Later, in 2004 and again in 2007, she spent time as a stipendiate at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. In 1994 she became a fellow of the Literary Colloquium. In 2009 she took a guest professorship at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, followed between 2009 and 2011 by a similar appointment at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

. In 2014 Obexer teamed up with

Marianna Salzmann Sasha Marianna Salzmann (born in Volgograd, Soviet Union on 21 August 1985) is a German playwright, essayist, theatre curator and novelist. She is writer in residence at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin where she was artistic director of the s ...

to establish the "New Institute for Stage Writing" (''"Neue Institut für Dramatisches Schreiben"''), with the objective of bringing the social significance of dramatic art back more strongly into public consciousness, and "to strengthen an art-form that exists, in the first instance, to develop a culture of debate". Her 2015 radio and stage plays "Illegale Helfer" won the "Eurodrama" and Robert Geisendörfer prizes in 2016.

Works (selection)

Radio dramas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obexer, Margareth People from Brixen Writers from Berlin German women dramatists and playwrights German women novelists 21st-century German novelists Women radio writers German radio writers 1970 births Living people 21st-century German women Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts