Monique Schwitter (born 2 March 1972) is a Swiss writer and actress.

Life and career

Schwitter was born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, Switzerland. She studied stage direction and theater at the

Mozarteum Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Moz ...

from 1993 to 1997. Having graduated, she worked as an actress at top-level houses for five years, such as the

Schauspielhaus Zürich The Schauspielhaus Zürich ( en, Zürich playhouse) is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" (Peacock Stage). The large theatre has 750 seats. The also operates three st ...

, the

Schauspiel Frankfurt The Schauspiel Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company for plays in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is part of Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt. History In the late 1770s the theatre principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established th ...

, and Schauspielhaus Graz. She was then an ensemble member at the

Deutsches Schauspielhaus The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich. Theatre managers Notable actors Marco Albrecht, Ingrid ...

in Hamburg. Throughout that period, she was a reciter, a dubbing actor and directed and produced several literary features about

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...

Ernst Jandl Ernst Jandl (; 1 August 1925 – 9 June 2000) was an Austrian writer, poet, and translator. He became known for his experimental lyric, mainly sound poems (''Sprechgedichte'') in the tradition of concrete and visual poetic forms. Poetry Inf ...

Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau wa ...

, and

Sarah Kane Sarah Kane (3 February 1971 – 20 February 1999) was an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. She is known for her plays that deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture—both physical and psychological� ...

. At the Deutsche Schauspielhaus she curated a literary salon and performed as a blues singer. In her acting career, she regularly was part of numerous theater festivals, such as Mülheimer Theatertagen (1999), "Reich und Berühmt" in Berlin (2001), "Theater der Welt" in Stuttgart (2005),

Vienna Festival __NOTOC__ The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allie ...

(2006),

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

(2006), "Theaterformen" in Hannover (2007) und

Berliner Theatertreffen The Berliner Theatertreffen (''Theatertreffen'' : neologism literally meaning "theatre encounter" or "theatre meeting" ) is a two-week long theatre festival occurring yearly in May in Berlin, Germany. It is a product of the Berliner Festspiele ...

(2008). Starting 2002, she contributed prose and short stories in various literary magazines. After the editor

Alfred Kolleritsch Alfred Kolleritsch (16 February 1931 – 29 May 2020) was an Austrian journalist, poet and philosopher. He was born in Eichfeld, Austria. He was the founder of the literary magazine '. He was the President of the , a cultural center in Graz ...

had become interested in her work, she published much of her early work in the Austrian literary magazine Manuskripte. Her first collection of short stories, ''Wenn's schneit beim Krokodil'', was published in 2005 and was awarded the Robert-Walser Preis (2006) and a prize by the

Deutsche Schillerstiftung The Deutsche Schillerstiftung (German Schiller Foundation), headquartered in Weimar, is the oldest private foundation for the assistance of writers in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Cent ...

. In 2008, the theater Lucerne comissed the piece ''Himmels-W'', which premiered there on April 3, 2008. In the same year, she was invited to participate in the Max-Frisch-Symposium at the University Brussels. Her debut novel Ohren haben keine Lider was also released in 2008 and was translated into Chinese in 2010 for the Expo in Shanghai. Her second volume of short stories, ''Goldfish Memory'' (german: Goldfischgedächtnis, links=no), was launched in 2011. In 2010, Monique Schwitter decided to end her acting career, in order to pursue writing full-time. Nominated by Hildegard Elisabeth Keller, she took part at the

Festival of German-Language Literature The Festival of German-Language Literature (german: Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, links=no) is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of ...

(Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize) in 2015. Her novel ''Eins im Andern'' was short listed for the

German Book Prize The German Book Prize (''Deutscher Buchpreis'') is awarded annually, in October, by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (''Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels'') to the best new German language novel of the year. The books, publ ...

(german: Deutscher Buchpreis, links=no) and received the

Swiss Book Prize The Swiss Book Prize (german: link=no, Schweizer Buchpreis) is a literary award awarded annually by a jury on behalf of the Swiss Booksellers' Association. The prize amount is CHF 30,000. The award was instituted in 2008 following the example of ...

(german: Schweizer Buchpreis, links=no.Monique Schwitter wird mit dem Schweizer Buchpreis 2015 geehrt
SRF vom 8. November 2015, retrieved, 18 January 2016 The novel is about a forty-year-old woman who during a random google search discovers that her first love had committed suicide many years ago. Learning this, she recounts the biography of her love life by telling the story of twelve previous lovers. In 2016, it was awarded the Swiss Literary Prize (german: Schweizer Literaturpreis, links=no). Her work has been translated into several languages, including French, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Polish, and English. Schwitter lives in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Published works

* ''Wenn's schneit beim Krokodil.'' Short Stories. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2005, . * ''Ohren haben keine Lider.'' Novel. Residenz, Salzburg 2008, . * ''Himmels-W.'' Theater piece 2008. * ''Goldfischgedächtnis.'' Short Stories. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2011, . ** ''Goldfish Memory'' Cardigan:Parthian 2015 * ''Eins im Andern.'' Novel. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2015, .

Awards

* 2001: Nestroy-Nomination, best young actor for the role of Mariedl in Die Präsidentinnen by

Werner Schwab Werner Schwab (4 February 1958 – 1 January 1994) was an Austrian playwright and visual artist. Biography From 1978 to 1982 he studied sculpture at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna. During the 1980s he worked as a sculptor and wo ...

* 2003: Nestroy-Nomination, best young actor for performing Janis Joplin and Marie in Woyzeck by

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

* 2004: Hermann-Lenz-Stipendium * 2005: Preis der Marianne und Curt Dienemann-Stiftung * 2006: Robert-Walser-Preis * 2006: Förderpreis der Schweizerischen Schillerstiftung * 2011: Rotahorn Literaturpreis * 2012: Aufenthalts-Stipendium der Sparte Literatur im Künstlerhaus Lauenburg * 2015: Schweizer Buchpreis, for Eins im Andern * 2016: Stipendium des Heinrich-Heine-Hauses der Stadt Lüneburg * 2016: Schweizer Literaturpreis

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwitter, Monique 1972 births Living people Swiss women novelists 20th-century Swiss actresses 21st-century Swiss novelists Actors from Zürich 21st-century Swiss women writers Swiss Book Prize winners