Arno Geiger (born 22 July 1968) is an Austrian novelist. Geiger grew up in the village of Wolfurt near Bregenz. He studied

German studies German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...

, ancient history and

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

at the universities of

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He has worked as a freelance writer since 1993. From 1986 to 2002, he also worked as a technician at the annual

Bregenzer Festspiele Bregenzer Festspiele (; Bregenz Festival) is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August in Bregenz in Vorarlberg (Austria). It features a large floating stage which is situated on Lake Constance. History The Festival becam ...

summer opera festival. In 1996 and in 2004, he took part in the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis competition at Klagenfurt. In October 2005, he was the recipient of the first Deutscher Buchpreis literature prize (awarded by the booksellers' association of Germany) for his novel ''Es geht uns gut''. First published in 2011, Geiger's autobiographical ''The Old King in His Exile'' has now, with this translation into English (published by And Other Stories in 2017), been translated into 28 languages. The memoir has won literary prizes including the 2011 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize, as well as prizes from medical societies in various countries, including the 2011 German Hospice and Palliative Care Association (DHPV) Award. His novel ''Unter der Drachenwand'', published in Germany by Hanser, was translated into English by Jamie Bulloch and was published by

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bull ...

as ''Hinterland'' in 2022. Geiger lives in Wolfurt and Vienna.

Awards

* 1994 Scholarship by the Austrian Ministry of Science and Culture * 1998 Abraham Woursell Award, New York (a talent award for young European writers) * 2001 Carl-Mayer-Drehbuch-Förderpreis, Graz (a screenplay award named for screenplay writer Carl Mayer (1894–1944)) * 2005 Förderpreis zum Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis, Bad Homburg (talent award) * 2005 Deutscher Buchpreis * 2011 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize * 2011 German Hospice and Palliative Care Association (DHPV) Award * 2011 Anton Wildgans Prize * 2017 Alemannischer Literaturpreis * 2023 Rheingau Literatur Preis

References

1968 births Living people People from Bregenz Austrian male writers German Book Prize winners {{Austria-writer-stub