Gerald Ganglbauer (born 24 February 1958 in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) is an Austrian–Australian writer and publisher diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

at the age of 48 years. Since then he has been an ambassador for Parkinson's support groups.

Life

Born Horst Gerald Ganglbauer, he studied

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

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 ...

(1986), and more recently

web development Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications, ...

at the

SIT Sitting is a List of human positions, basic action and resting position in which the body weight is supported primarily by the bony ischial tuberosities with the buttocks in contact with the ground or a horizontal surface such as a chair seat, ...

(2006). In 1984 he started the independent press ''Gangan'' with his then wife Petra Ganglbauer. After their divorce he lived for several years 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. ...

. Since 1989 he has lived in Sydney and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Australia under

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

, and is listed as one of Styria's ''Top Expatriates''. 1982/83 he was a founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine ''perspektive'', 1987/88 editor in chief of the literary journal ''gangan viertel, ZeitSCHRIFT über Literatur'', and in 1990/91 he launched Gangaroo in Sydney. In 1992 he co-edited with Andreas Puff-Trojan ''Textwechsel'', and in 1996 launched the international online magazine

Gangway A gangway is a passageway through which to enter or leave. Gangway may also refer to: Passageways * Gangway (nautical), a passage between the quarterdeck and the forecastle of a ship, and by extension, a passage through the side of a ship, an ope ...

. In 2001 he introduced ''Gangart Awards'', an intercultural competition for the arts on the net, which were awarded till 2005 by an international jury, and only ended due to his illness. ''Gangan'' published books in print for ten years, and then online. In the last decade he was involved in resident action groups and was elected chairman of the ''Ultimo Precinct Committee'' in Sydney. He is founder of the forum for

Austrians Abroad Austrians Abroad () are Austrians, Austrian citizens, Immigration, migrants and expatriates who reside outside the Austria, Republic of Austria. The interests of these approximately 613,300 Austrians living abroad, mostly in Germany (255,500), ...

(2004) and since 2007 has been on the board of directors of the ''World Federation of Austrians Abroad (AÖWB)''. He was also convenor of ''Free Beach Action NSW'', a lobby group for

naturism Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Illness

In 2006 he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease, which forced him into retirement in 2007, before the age of 50. With this dramatic change in his life, he became active in Parkinson's

support groups In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...

in Austria (''Parkinson Selbsthilfe Steiermark'') and New South Wales (''Parkinson's NSW Inc.'') and, despite his illness was re-elected AÖWB director in 2010. Together with Viennese neurologist Dr Wilibald Gerschlager he started the Austrian Parkinson's forum ''Parkinsonberatung'' and ran it from June 2007 to January 2011, and, after that, a Facebook page and a Twitter microblog for the umbrella organisation ''Parkinson Selbsthilfe Österreich''. On

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

he introduced ''Parkinsonline'' IM groups in August 2010. In Sydney he convened an inner city support group, moved back to Austria in 2013, and became first elected president of Austrian Parkinson's association PON, in 2014. He is also a contributing author to Dr Gerschlager's book on Parkinson's disease.Willibald Gerschlager: Parkinson. Maudrich, Vienna 2009, .

Publications

English-language publications

* ''Evading the jaws of giants, Independent publishing in Austria.'' Editions Review, Sydney and Melbourne 1990. * ''Multicultural Publishing: How hard is it to do in Australia?'' Carnivale Literary Festival, Sydney 2001. * ''Publishing My Way.'' National Young Writers Festival, Newcastle 2002. * ''Cyberspace (Die Verbundenheit der Differenz: Kommunikation ohne Grenzen).'' TUAC, Vienna 2003. * ''Virtual Communities (Virtuelle Gemeinschaften).'' IRICS, Vienna 2005. * ''World ID – no place is home anymore.'' "V" Identities, Bregenz 2011. * ''Parkinsong Duets.'' CD, ATS Records, Molln 2019.

German-language publications

* ''Stop-Over (Ich bin eine Reise).'' Die Rampe XVIII.2, Linz 1992. * ''Halbe Österreicher.'' ROTWEISSROT, Vienna 1996. * ''Der ganz langsame Abstieg.'' In: Willibald Gerschlager: ''Parkinson. Ursachen, Diagnose, Verlauf und Therapieoptionen.'' Maudrich, Vienna 2009. * ''Ich bin eine Reise. Eine autobiografische Montage über Leben, Liebe, Leidenschaft – und Parkinson.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2014. * ''Einunddreißig. Ein Mann, 30 Frauen, Parkinson-Medikamente und eine Liebesgeschichte.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2015. * ''Geografie der Liebe. Stationen, Begegnungen, Transit Zonen, Life and Times: die Generation der Baby-Boomer.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2016. * ''Korrespondenzen auf Papier.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2018. * ''Die Österreicher im Ausland.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2019. * ''Kopfbahnhof.'' Gangan, Stattegg-Ursprung 2020.

References

External links

AustLit – The Australian Literature Resource

Gerald Ganglbauer

Gangan Verlag

Gangway Literary Magazine

Photo Portfolio

Parkinsonberatung

Parkins(on)line
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganglbauer, Gerald 1958 births Living people Writers from Graz Austrian publishers (people) Australian publishers (people) Austrian expatriates in Australia People with Parkinson's disease University of Graz alumni Austrian magazine founders