Karl-Markus Gauß (born 14 May 1954, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

) is an

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 ...

n contemporary writer, essayist and editor.In one single interview, Gauß by joke characterized himself ''to be an independent scholar.'' The interviewer, not being aware of this allusion to exactly same statement made by some

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, quite a while earlier, wrote so, and Gauß' statement ever since became repeated by other journalists, not being aware either. He lives in Salzburg.

Biography

Gauß has a degree for German language, German Philology and History from the University of Salzburg. He very early published literary essays, primarily in the magazine ''Wiener Tagebuch (Viennese Diary)''. Since 1991, Gauß is editor in chief of the literary magazine ''Literatur und Kritik'', published by the Salzburg publishing house Otto Müller Verlag. In addition, he writes articles and essays for Austrian, German and Swiss newspapers and magazines, such as ''Die Zeit'', ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'', ''Salzburger Nachrichten'', and ''Die Presse''. In 2006, Karl-Markus Gauß was accepted as member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, German Academy of Language and Poetry.

Works

Primarily, Karl-Markus Gauß writes essays. One of his main topics are minority group, ethnic minorities, some of which aren't sometimes known to the readers even by their name, such as the Aromanians, Romani people, Roma, Arbëreshë people, Arbëreshë and the Sephardi Jews, Sephardim. Other important topics are Central and South Eastern Europe. Gauß visited these countries on several occasions, usually jointly with the photographer Kurt Kaindl. His cultural reports and essays describe cultural encounters and intellectual exchanges with the writers of those countries, but also with people "like me and you", on the streets and in pubs. Gauß uses his books very often to present and promote writers from Central and Eastern Europe, who are relatively unknown in Austria and Germany.

Literary prizes and awards

*1987 International Prize of Portorož for Essays *1988 State Subsidy for Literature by the Austrian Department of Education and Cultural Affairs *1989 Buchprämie des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst *1992 Subsidy for Literature by the City of

*1994 Buchprämie des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst *1994 Österreichischer Staatspreis für Kulturpublizistik *1997 European Essay Prize Charles Veillon for ''Das Europäische Alphabet'' *1998 Bruno-Kreisky-Preis for the Political Book for ''Ins unentdeckte Österreich'' *2001 Award of the Austrian Book Sellers for Tolerant Thinking and Acting *2004 René-Marcic-Preis *2005 Manès-Sperber-Preis Vienna *2005 Vilenica International Literary Festival, Vilenica International Literary Prize *2006 Georg Dehio Book Prize *2007 Honorary doctorate in philosophy from Salzburg University *2007 Mitteleuropa-Preis *2010 Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Preis *2019 Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class, Austrian Decoration for Science and Art *2022 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding

Bibliography

* ''Im Wald der Metropolen'', Zsolnay Verlag 2010, Vienna * ''Zu früh, zu spät'', Zsolnay Verlag 2007, Vienna * ''Die versprengten Deutschen. Unterwegs in Litauen, durch die Zips und am Schwarzen Meer''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2005 * ''Wirtshausgespräche in der Erweiterungszone''. Otto Müller Verlag,

2005 * ''Die Hundeesser von Svinia''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2004 * ''Von nah, von fern. Ein Jahresbuch''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2003 * ''Mit mir, ohne mich. Ein Journal''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2002 * ''Die sterbenden Europäer. Unterwegs zu den Sepharden von Sarajevo, Gottscheer Deutschen, Arbëreshe, Sorben und Aromunen''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2001 * ''Der Mann, der ins Gefrierfach wollte. Albumblätter''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1999 * ''Ins unentdeckte Österreich. Nachrufe und Attacken''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1998 * ''Das europäische Alphabet''. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 1997 * ''Ritter, Tod und Teufel. Essay''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1994 * ''Die Vernichtung Mitteleuropas. Essays''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1991 * ''Der wohlwollende Despot. Über die Staatsschattengewächse – Essay''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1989 * ''Tinte ist bitter. Literarische Porträts aus Barbaropa – Essays''. Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1988 * ''Wann endet die Nacht. Über Albert Ehrenstein – ein Essay''. Edition Moderne, Zurich 1986

References

External links

Publisher Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg

Publisher Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt

Publisher Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna

Literary Award: Georg Dehio-Buchpreis 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauss, Karl-Markus Austrian essayists Writers from Salzburg 1954 births Living people