Norbert Scheuer (born December 16, 1951 in

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm. Geography Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...

, Westeifel, Rheinland-Palatinate) is a German author. Norbert Scheuer

He earns a living as an IT system programmer for

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom w ...

and now lives in Keldenich,

Kall KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

in the area where he grew up, after lengthy periods spent in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

Early career

Scheuer qualified as an electrician after secondary school then studied technology in

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is loc ...

. He then undertook further studies at the

University of Düsseldorf A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

and graduated in philosophy before completing his master's degree on the work of

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

.Berlin International Literature Festival programme note: http://www.literaturfestival.com/archiv/teilnehmer/autoren/2012/norbert-scheuer In 1994 he made his debut with a collection of short stories, ''Der Hahnenkönig'', and this was followed in 1997 by a collection of poems, ''Ein Echo von allem.'' His 1999 Novel ''Der Steinesammler'' marked the beginning of his exploration of his own Eifel homeland.

Public appearances

In 2012 and 2013, Scheuer was a participant in the

Berlin International Literature Festival The Berlin International Literature Festival (german: internationales literaturfestival berlin) or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and inte ...

. He was poet in residence at the

University of Duisburg-Essen The University of Duisburg-Essen (german: link=no, Universität Duisburg-Essen) is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded ...

in 2011 and held the Thomas-Kling Lectureship in Poetry at The University of Bonn in 2014 courtesy of the

Kunststiftung NRW Kunststiftung NRW (''Art Foundation NRW'') is a foundation created by the government of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established on September 12, 1989, and started operations in the spring of 1990. It is based in Düsseldorf ...

Recent work

Scheuer's most recent work is his novel, ''Die Sprache der Vögel'', published in Germany in 2015. This made the shortlist of the

Leipzig Book Fair Prize The Leipzig Book Fair Prize () is a literary award assigned annually during the Leipzig Book Fair to outstanding newly released literary works in the categories "Fiction", "Non-fiction" and "Translation". The Leipzig Book Fair Prize has been award ...

. Scheuer's work will be published in English for the first time with ''The Language of Birds'' appearing in June 2017. The novel recounts the experiences of a German Army medic deployed in the

Afghanistan war War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

in 2003, Paul Arimond. The horrors and banalities of everyday life threaten to overcome him but he finds refuge in the natural world and the exquisite beauty of birds Scheuer has received numerous awards for his literary work.

List of works

* ''Der Hahnenkönig''. (Short stories) (1994) (Out of print) * ''Ein Echo von allem''. (Poems) Mainz : Hase & Koehler (1997) (Out of print) * ''Der Steinesammler''. (Novel) (1999; 2nd edn., 2010) Schöffling & Co. Frankfurt am Main * ''Flußabwärts''. (Novel) (2002) C. H. Beck, München * ''Kall, Eifel''. (Short stories) (2005) C. H. Beck, München * ''Überm Rauschen''. (Novel) (2009) C. H. Beck, München * ''Bis ich dies alles liebte''. (Poems) (2011) C. H. Beck, München * ''Peehs Liebe''. (Novel) (2012) C. H. Beck, München * ''Die Sprache der Vögel''. (Novel) (2015) C. H. Beck, München Translated as ''The Language of Birds''. (2017) The University of Chicago Press for Haus Publishing, 2017. * ''Am Grund des Universums''. (Novel) (2017). C. H. Beck, München * ''Winterbienen'', novel, C.H.Beck, Munich 2019.

Awards

* 2003: Martha-Saalfeld-Förderpreis * 2004: Literary Prize of the

* 2006:

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies ...

-Prize 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 ...

* 2006: Georg-K.-Glaser Prize * 2009: Shortlisted 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, publi ...

for ''Überm Rauschen'' * 2010: * 2010: Rheinischer Literaturpreis Siegburg for ''Überm Rauschen'' * 2015: Shortlisted for the

for ''Die Sprache der Vögel'' * 2019:

Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize The Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize () is a German literary award established in 2000 by the city of Braunschweig and the radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio. It is named after the 18th-century writer Wilhelm Raabe and is awarded for an individual w ...

for ''Winterbienen''

Literature

Theo Breuer Theo Breuer (born 30 March 1956) is a German poet, essayist, editor, translator and publisher. Life and work Theo Breuer was born in Bürvenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany and educated at Cologne University where he studied German ...

: ''Winterbienen im Urftland. Empfundene/erfundene Welten in Norbert Scheuers Gedichten und Geschichten'', Pop Verlag, Ludwigsburg 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheuer, Norbert 1951 births Living people German male writers