''Wespennest'' (literally translated "wasps nest") is a bi-annual

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

published in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It includes texts and images by authors and artists, presenting themes on specific countries, literature, art theory or politics, along with interviews, polemics, book and theatre reviews and works of photography on 112 pages.

History

The magazine was founded in 1969 and originally developed as a project by a group of authors from the Vienna

68er-Bewegung The West German student movement or sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968; participants in the movement would later come to be known as 68ers. T ...

. The twenty-year-old writers Peter Henisch und Helmut Zenker initially founded Wespennest as a publication for their own texts, dissociated from the literary magazine ''

Literatur und Kritik The Austrian literary magazine ''Literatur und Kritik'' (''Literature and Critical Reviews'') was founded in April 1966 by the Austrian writers Rudolf Henz, Gerhard Fritsch, and Paul Kruntorad as successor of the literary publication ''Wort in der Z ...

'', which they found "too virtuous", and '' Manuskripte'', which they found "too avant-garde". After the founding authors resigned, other writers including

Gustav Ernst Gustav Ernst (born 23 August 1944) is an Austrian playwright, novelist and screenwriter. He has also founded and edited two literary journals, '' Wespennest'' and '' kolik''. Ernst was born in Vienna, where he read Philosophy, Psychology and Hist ...

and Franz Schuh, worked as editors and co-publishers of Wespennest for many years. In the mid-1980s,

Josef Haslinger Josef Haslinger (born July 5, 1955) is an Austrian writer. Haslinger was born in Zwettl, Lower Austria. He studied philosophy, drama and Germanic studies at the University of Vienna. He received his PhD in 1980. Since then he has been working as ...

altered the concept of the quarterly magazine. In addition to German-language literature and essays, it began to publish regular translations of foreign authors who were not well known in the German-speaking world. A collaboration was also formed with the European network of cultural journals

Eurozine ''Eurozine '' is a network of European cultural magazines based in Vienna, linking up more than 90 partner journals and just as many associated magazines and institutions from nearly all European countries. ''Eurozine'' is also an online magazine ...

, which Wespennest helped to found. Walter Famler, the magazine’s current publisher, expanded the magazine’s activities at the beginning of the 1990s to include book publishing, coming out with three to five books a year in the series ''Edition Literatur'', ''Edition Essay'' and ''Edition Film''. Founded as a literary magazine, Wespennest now includes works on the humanities and social sciences. It regularly publishes critical essays on topics of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

and film, and coverage of political and social events in and outside Austria. The 100th issue, which appeared in September 1995, included further content and design changes by Stefan Fuhrer. Articles appear under the heading ''Wespennest Portraits'', which has included articles on

Drago Jančar Drago Jančar (born 13 April 1948) is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most well-known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement. Jančar's n ...

, Dževad Karahasan,

John Mateer John Mateer (born 1971) is a South African-born Australian poet and author. Early life and education He was born in Roodepoort, South Africa in 1971, and grew up on the outskirts of Johannesburg. He spent some of his childhood in Canada, before ...

and

Meg Stuart Meg Stuart (born 1965 in New Orleans) is an American choreographer and dancer who lives and works in Brussels and Berlin. Her company, Damaged Goods, operates from Brussels since 1994. Start as a dancer and choreographer Stuart moved to New York ...

. The articles aim to maintain a connection between photographs and text. The magazine is published under a distribution agreement with the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

-based publishing house

C.H. Beck Verlag C. H. BECK oHG, doing business as Publishers C. H. Beck (german: Verlag C. H. Beck), is a German publisher with its headquarters in Munich and a branch office in Frankfurt. The company was established in 1763. Historically, its headquarte ...

. It aims to provide a literary forum and a critical public for authors, who have included

Friedrich Achleitner Friedrich Achleitner (23 May 1930 – 27 March 2019) was an Austrian poet and architecture critic. As a member of the Wiener Gruppe, he wrote concrete poems and experimental literature. His magnum opus is a multi-volume documentation of 20th-cent ...

, Gabriela Adameşteanu, Gennadij Ajgi, Sadik Al-Azm, Les Back, Lothar Baier, Colette Braeckman, Alida Bremer, Rudolf Burger,

Mircea Cărtărescu Mircea Cărtărescu (; born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian novelist, poet, short-story writer, literary critic, and essayist. Biography Born in Bucharest in 1956, he attended Cantemir Vodă National College during the early 1970s. During his school ...

, Peter O. Chotjewitz,

Inger Christensen Inger Christensen (16 January 1935 – 2 January 2009) was a Danish poet, novelist, essayist and editor. She is considered the foremost Danish poetic experimentalist of her generation. Life and work Born in the town of Vejle, on the eastern J ...

György Dalos György Dalos (born 23 September 1943) is a Hungarian Jewish writer and historian. He is best known for his novel '' 1985'', and ''The Guest from the Future: Anna Akhmatova and Isaiah Berlin''. Life Dalos was born in Budapest and spent his child ...

, Jesús Díaz, Ulrike Draesner, Michail Eisenberg,

Katarina Frostenson Alma Katarina Frostenson Arnault (born 5 March 1953) is a Swedish poet and writer. She was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1992 to 2019. In 2003, Frostenson was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in France in recognition of her serv ...

Arno Geiger Arno Geiger (born 22 July 1968) is an Austrian novelist. Geiger grew up in the village of Wolfurt near Bregenz. He studied German studies, ancient history and comparative literature at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. He has worked as ...

, Georgi Gospodinov, Sabine Gruber,

Adolf Holl Adolf Holl (13 May 1930 – 23 January 2020) was an Austrian Catholic writer and theologian. He lived in Vienna, where he was Chaplain of the University of Vienna and a lecturer in its Department of Catholic Theology Theology is the systemati ...

, Nora Iuga,

Jaan Kaplinski Jaan Kaplinski (22 January 1941 – 8 August 2021 ) was an Estonian poet, philosopher, politician, and culture critic, known for his focus on global issues and support for left-wing/ liberal thinking. He was influenced by Eastern philosophical s ...

, Sema Kaygusuz, Navid Kermani,

Friederike Mayröcker Friederike Mayröcker (20 December 1924 – 4 June 2021) was an Austrian writer of poetry and prose, audio plays, children's books and dramatic texts. She experimented with language, and was regarded as an avantgarde poet, and as one of the lea ...

, Suketu Mehta, Dmi-trij Prigow,

Elif Şafak Elif Shafak ( tr, Elif Şafak, ; born 25 October 1971) is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist and activist. Shafak writes in Turkish and English, and has published 19 works. She is best known for her no ...

, Warlam Schalamow, Robert Schindel,

Burghart Schmidt Burghart Schmidt (30 November 1942 – 13 February 2022) was a German Philosophy, philosopher. He was professor at Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Education He was born in Wildeshausen, Free State o ...

, Olga Sedakova, Heinz Steinert,

Ilija Trojanow Ilija Trojanow (Bulgarian: Илия Троянов, also transliterated as Ilya Troyanov; born 23 August 1965 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian–German writer, translator and publisher. Life and literary career Trojanow was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1 ...

Tomas Venclova Tomas Venclova (born 11 September 1937) is a Lithuanian poet, prose writer, scholar, philologist and translator of literature. He is one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group. In 1977, following his dissident activities, ...

Wolf Wondratschek Wolf Wondratschek (; born August 14, 1943) is a German author. He was born in Rudolstadt in Thuringia. Life Wondratschek grew up in Karlsruhe. From 1962 through 1967, he studied literature, philosophy and sociology at the Ruprecht Karl University ...

and others. The forum for European literature has had contributions from Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Scandinavia, and discusses the literature of

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. Four themed issues are published each year, with occasional special editions, such as those about the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

composer

Franz Koglmann Franz Koglmann (born 22 May 1947) is an Austrian jazz composer. He performs on both the trumpet and flugelhorn in a variety of contexts, most often within avant-garde jazz and third stream contexts. An award-winning composer, Koglmann has perfor ...

, the poet

and the Art Brut artist Adolf Wölfli. The magazine was awarded the V.O. Stomps Prize from the city of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

in 2003, for "outstanding achievements in small-scale publishing activities".

Editorial board

Since 2014 Andrea Roedig and Andrea Zederbauer edit the magazine along with Walter Famler, Erich Klein, Jan Koneffke (literature), Tanja Martini («überläufer»), Reinhard Öhner (photos), and Ilija Trojanow (reportage). Thomas Eder is in charge of the book review section. György Dalos (Berlin), George Blecher (New York), Jyoti Mistry (Johannesburg) and Franz Schuh (Vienna) are regular collaborators.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wespennest 1969 establishments in Austria Magazines established in 1969 German-language magazines Literary magazines published in Austria Quarterly magazines Magazines published in Vienna