Robert Sedlaczek (born 1952) is an Austrian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Germanist German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

author.Entry for Robert Sedlaczek
in the catalogue of the German National Library (DNB). Retrieved 2 August 2020. He is best known for his works on aspects of the German language. In addition, he writes books and articles on cultural history topics. In his book ''Die Tante Jolesch und ihre Zeit. Eine Recherche'' he traced the history of the industrial family of the same name as well as the lawyer, Hugo Sperber. These people are characters in

Friedrich Torberg Friedrich Torberg (16 September 1908, Vienna, Alsergrund – 10 November 1979, Vienna) is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an Austrian writer. Biography He worked as a critic and journalist in Vienna and Prague until 1938, when his Jewish he ...

's book ''Die Tante Jolesch''.

Life

Robert Sedlaczek was born 2 April 1952 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 ...

. He studied German Studies, English Studies and

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

in Vienna, earning a Doctor of Philosophy. From 1973 to 1978, he worked as an editor for the

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

. After working as a freelance journalist, among others for the magazine '' Extrablatt'', he became press

spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for the Austrian Chancellor,

Bruno Kreisky Bruno Kreisky (; 22 January 1911 – 29 July 1990) was an Austrian social democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldes ...

in 1980, and, later, for

Ferdinand Lacina Ferdinand Lacina (born 31 December 1942) is an Austrian politician. He served as finance minister from 1986 to 1995. Early life Lacina was born on 31 December 1942. He is a graduate of Vienna University of Economics and Business. He was among th ...

. From 1986 to 1990, he was a member of the curatorium of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation or

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

, from 1989 to 2003, he was

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Austrian Federal Publishing House, (''Österreichischer Bundesverlag''). Since 2005, he has been working as a columnist in the feature section of the ''Wiener Zeitung'', and since 2009 he has written the section "German for Journalists" for the industry magazine ''Der österreichische Journalist''. He writes books for the publishers, Amalthea Signum, for Haymon of Innsbruck, for Edition Atelier of Vienna, and for

Ueberreuter Ueberreuter (full: german: der Verlag Carl Ueberreuter) is an Austrian publishing house. Founded as ''Verlag Carl Ueberreuter'' in 1946 by Thomas F. Salzer (de), today the company is Austria's biggest publisher of non-fiction literature. Ueberr ...

, also of Vienna. Sedlaczek has been married to Melita Sedlaczek since 1988, who also supports him as a co-author of his books, and has a stepdaughter, whom he adopted as a child. Sedlaczek lives 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

Neulengbach Neulengbach is a municipality in the district of Sankt Pölten-Land in Lower Austria. Population Historical personalities In 1911, the twenty-one year-old artist Egon Schiele met the seventeen-year-old Walburga (Wally) Neuzil, who lived with ...

, a town on the western edge of the

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (german: Wienerwald) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area ...

. In 1994, Sedlaczek and co-author Werner Schima received the Steinfeder Prize for wine journalism from the Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus for the Austrian wine guide '' Unser Wein'', which was published several times.

Collaboration with Martin Czapka

Robert Sedlaczek has worked with illustrator, Martin Czapka, since 2016. Czapka runs an advertising studio in Vienna and illustrated the books published by Amalthea: ''Österreichisch für Anfänger'', ''Österreich für Fortgeschrittene'' and ''Österreichisch fia Fuaßboifäns'', as well the quiz games ''Das neue Österreich Quiz'' and ''Challenge Austria'' released by Ferdinand

Piatnik Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, commonly referred to as Piatnik, is an Austrian playing card and board game manufacturing company based in Vienna. History The company was founded in 1824 by the card manufacturer Anton Moser (178 ...

& Sons.

Engagement with Tarock

Sedlaczek is a major promoter of

Tarock card games Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent Trump (card games), trumps parallel to the Playing card suit, suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are cal ...

. ''Das große Tarock-Buch'' ("The Big Tarock Book"), written with Wolfgang Mayr and Roland Kronigl, and ''Die Strategie des Tarockspiels'' ("The Strategy of the Game of Tarock"), written with Wolfgang Mayr, are regarded as standard German-language works for this family of

card games A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

. Together with Mayr, he founded the Vienna Tarock Cup (''Wiener Tarockcup'') in 2003 for the Tarock game of Königrufen and initiated a final for the Austrian tournament series, which is held annually at Linz Casino. Sedlaczek is also the main initiator of the reintroduction of Hungarian Tarock in Austria. From 2005 to 2018, in his Tarock columns in the ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company r ...

'', he and Wolfgang Mayr gave tactical tips for the variants of Tarock common in Austria; he is currently writing a similar series with his wife Melita for the ''Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt'' (Upper Austrian News). His latest publication on the subject is ''Kulturgeschichte des Tarockspiels. Geschichten über Tarock und seine berühmten Spieler'' (The Cultural History of Tarock: Stories about Tarock and its Famous Players") which he again co-authored with Mayr.

Works

Works that Robert Sedlaczek has published include the following: * ''Österreichisch für Fortgeschrittene. Ein heiteres Lexikon in Zusammenarbeit mit Melita Sedlaczek. Illustriert von Martin Czapka'' Amalthea, Vienna, 2018. * ''Österreichisch für Anfänger. Ein heiteres Lexikon in Zusammenarbeit mit Melita Sedlaczek. Illustriert von Martin Czapka'' Amalthea, Vienna, 2017. * ''Österreichisch fia Fuaßboifäns. Ein heiteres Lexikon in Zusammenarbeit mit Melita Sedlaczek. Illustriert von Martin Czapka'' Amalthea, Vienna, 2016. * ''Die Kulturgeschichte des Tarockspiels. Geschichten über Tarock und seine berühmten Spieler''. (with Wolfgang Mayr), Edition Atelier, Vienna, 2015. * ''Das unanständige Lexikon. Tabuwörter der deutschen Sprache und ihre Herkunft''. (with Christoph Winder), Haymon-Verlag, Innsbruck, 2014. * ''Die Tante Jolesch und ihre Zeit. Eine Recherche''. (with Melita Sedlaczek and Wolfgang Mayr), Haymon-Verlag, Innsbruck, 2013. * ''Das Radio-Tirol-Wörterbuch der Tiroler Mundarten''. (co-authored with Hans Moser), Haymon-Taschenbuchverlag, Innsbruck, 2013. * ''Wiener Wortgeschichten. Von Pflasterhirschen und Winterschwalben''. (read by Christian Spatzek, Robert Sedlaczek and Reinhard Badegruber), edition-o im Verlagsbüro Schwarzer, Vienna, 2013. * ''Wiener Wortgeschichten. Von Pflasterhirschen und Winterschwalben''. (mit Melita Sedlaczek und Reinhard Badegruber), Haymon-Verlag, Innsbruck, 2012. * ''Wörterbuch des Wienerischen''. (with Melita Sedlaczek), Haymon Taschenbuchverlag, 2011, . * ''Wörterbuch der Alltagssprache Österreichs''. (with Melita Sedlaczek), Haymon Taschenbuchverlag, 2011, . * ''Wenn ist nicht würdelos. Rot-weiß-rote Markierungen durch das Dickicht der Sprache''. (with Melita Sedlaczek), Ueberreuter 2010, . * ''Kleines Handbuch der bedrohten Wörter Österreichs''. (with Melita Sedlaczek), Ueberreuter 2007, . * ''Leet & Leiwand. Das Lexikon der Jugendsprache (with Roberta Baron): Mehr als 250 Ausdrücke und Redensarten''. Echomedia 2005, . * ''Das österreichische Deutsch''. (with Melita Sedlaczek), Ueberreuter 2004, ; Haymon Verlag, 2014 . * ''Lexikon der Sprachirrtümer Österreichs''. (with Sigmar Grüner), Deuticke 2003, . * ''Das große Tarock-Buch''. (with Wolfgang Mayr und Roland Kronigl), Edition Atelier 2001, . * ''Die Strategie des Tarockspiels''. (with Wolfgang Mayr), Edition Atelier 2008, 4th expanded edn., 2014, . * ''Österreich für Feinschmecker. Das kulinarische Jahrbuch''. (ed. mit Christoph Wagner), Deuticke 1994 , 1995 , 1996 .

References

External links

Homepage of Robert Sedlaczek

Glosse in the ''Wiener Zeitung''
* *
Homepage of Martin Czapka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedlaczek, Robert Germanists Austrian non-fiction writers Tarock card games Journalists from Vienna 1952 births Card game book writers Card game historians Living people