Erica Pedretti (; 25 February 1930 – 14 July 2022)
was a Swiss author and artist. Pedretti has published texts since 1970, and since 1976 she has worked as an artist, especially as a sculptor. In 1984, Pedretti received the
Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for her text ''The model and his painter'' and in 1996 the
Marie Luise Kaschnitz Prize for her novel ''Engste Heimat''. She was also awarded a
Swiss Literature Prize in 2013.
Life
Erica Pedretti was born Erica Schefter in 25 February 1930 in Steinberg in northern
Moravia
Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The medieval and early ...
, Czechoslovakia.
Her mother tongue was German. Her father was a silk manufacturer, but lost the factory after the Second World War.
Pedretti went to Switzerland in 1945 on a Red Cross transport, to live with her aunt in
Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
.
She studied art and enjoyed a career as a writer, painter, and sculptor. For a few years Pedretti lived in the United States, where she worked as a silver and goldsmith in New York, but in 1952 she returned to Switzerland.
She married the Swiss painter
Gian Pedretti that same year. Pedretti began writing in 1965, and has published texts since 1970, and since 1976 she has worked as an artist, especially as a sculptor.
In 1984, Pedretti received the
Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for her novel ''The model and his painter'' and in 1996 the
Marie Luise Kaschnitz Prize for her novel ''Engste Heimat''.
She was awarded the Culture Prize of the Canton of Grisons in 1999.
In 2013 she was awarded a Swiss Literature Prize.
Pedretti died in
Tenna, Switzerland on 14 July 2022 at the age of 92.
References
Further reading
* Valentina Glajar: "Narrating History and Subjectivity: „Vergangenheitsbewältigung“ in Erica Pedretti's „Engste Heimat“ (1995)". In: ''Glajar, The German Legacy in East Central Europe. As Recorded in Recent German Language Literature'', pp. 72–114. Camden House, Rochester NY 2004
* Dolores Denaro (ed.): ''Erica Pedretti. Flügelschlag./The Beat of Wings. Mit Werkverzeichnis/ With catalogue raisonné''. Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Wien 2017, .(Publication in German and English)
External links
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Portrait & Bibliography(French/German)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedretti, Erica
1930 births
2022 deaths
People from Šternberk
Swiss writers in German
Swiss people of Moravian-German descent
Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winners
Moravian-German people