Franz Schuh (born 15 March 1947) is an Austrian novelist, literary critic and, above all,

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

in the tradition of Karl Kraus and

Alfred Polgar Alfred Polgar (originally: Alfred Polak; 17 October 1873 in Vienna – 24 April 1955 in Zurich) was an Austrian-born columnist, theater critic, writer and occasionally translator. Life and work 1873—1895 He was born in an assimilated Jewish ...

. Schuh was born, and lives, in

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. ...

, where, just like his predecessors, he prefers to write in one of the traditional

coffeehouses A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

Life

Franz Schuh studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, history and

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 ...

in Vienna and graduated with his doctorate. 1976-80 he was Secretary General of the

Grazer Autorenversammlung The Grazer Autorinnen Autorenversammlung (GAV) was founded under the name of ''Grazer Autorenversammlung'' in March 1973 and is one of the two major Austrian writers' association (besides the Austrian PEN). H. C. Artmann was its first president. ...

, then editor of "Wespennest" (wasp nest) and head of the essayist and literary program of the publisher Deuticke. He works as a freelancer for various broadcasters and national newspapers and as a lecturer at the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970. History The predecessor of the ...

. He was also a guest at the "Literaturhaus Wien" (House of Literature in Vienna). Since June 2009 he writes the column "Crime & Punishment" in the magazine

Datum Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous value (semiotics), values that convey information, describing the quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols t ...

and talks a lot on the public radio program

Ö1 Österreich 1 (Ö1) is an Austrian radio station: one of the four national channels operated by Austria's public broadcaster ORF. It focuses on classical music and opera, jazz, documentaries and features, news, radio plays and dramas, ''Kabarett ...

among other things, in his "Magazine of happiness".oel.orf.at
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Select bibliography

* ''Liebe, Macht und Heiterkeit'' (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

) * ''Landnahme. Der österreichische Roman nach 1980'' (1989) * ''Schreibkräfte. Über Literatur, Glück und Unglück'' (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

) * ''Der Stadtrat. Eine Idylle'' (

) * ''Schwere Vorwürfe, schmutzige Wäsche'' (''Heavy Reproaches, Dirty Linen'') (

Leipzig Book Fair Prize The Leipzig Book Fair Prize () is a literary award assigned annually during the Leipzig Book Fair The Leipzig Book Fair () is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days a ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

). Schuh also edited the Peter-Henisch-Reader ''Figurenwerfen'' (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Awards

* 1986: Austrian State Prize for Cultural Journalism * 1987: City of Vienna Award for Journalism (Preis der Stadt Wien für Publizistik) * 2000: Jean Améry Prize * 2006:

, category "Sachbuch/Essayistik", for ''Schwere Vorwürfe, schmutzige Wäsche'' * 2006: Davos Swiss Media Award for outstanding achievement in journalism * 2009: Essay Prize ''Tractatus'',

Philosophicum Lech The Philosophicum Lech is a philosophical symposium in Lech (Vorarlberg), Lech am Arlberg in Vorarlberg (Austria). It has been established for the philosophical, Cultural studies, cultural and social science reflection, discussion and encounter. ...

* 2022:

Honorary doctor An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

University of Klagenfurt The University of Klagenfurt ( or ''Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt'', AAU) is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the States of Austria, state of Carinthia. It has its campus in ...

References

External links

Biography
in the ''

aeiou Encyclopedia Austria-Forum is a freely accessible online collection of reference works on Austria in German language, German, with some articles in English language, English, initiated by Graz University of Technology, TU Graz. As of 2022, Austria-Forum has be ...

''
Biography
from the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

web site (in German)
Leipzig Book Fair Prizes 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuh, Franz 1947 births Living people 20th-century Austrian novelists 21st-century Austrian novelists Austrian male novelists Austrian literary critics Writers from Vienna Austrian male essayists 20th-century Austrian essayists 21st-century essayists 20th-century Austrian male writers 21st-century male writers