Ruth Erat (born 3 August 1951 in

Herisau Herisau is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. It is the seat of the canton's government and parliament; the judicial authorities are situated ...

, Switzerland) is a Swiss teacher, author,

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, and politician.

Life

Erat grew up in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and

Arbon Arbon is a historic town and a municipality and district capital of the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Arbon is located on the southern shore of Lake Constance, on a railway line between Konstanz/Romanshorn and ...

and holds a degree from the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. She obtained her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1985 after completing a thesis on

Mechthild of Magdeburg Mechthild (or Mechtild, Matilda, Matelda) of Magdeburg (c. 1207 – c. 1282/1294), a Beguine, was a Christian medieval mystic, whose book ''Das fließende Licht der Gottheit'' (''The Flowing Light of Divinity'') is a compendium of visions, ...

. After completing her education, she began work as a teacher and as a district school superintendent at the teacher training college in Rorschach. She has also worked as a painter and writer. In 1999 she participated in the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition in Klagenfurt. Erat resides in

Rheineck Rheineck is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Rheineck is first mentioned about 1163 as ''castellum Rinegge''. In 1218 it was mentioned as ''Rinegg''. An older ...

, where she also served from 1991 to 2001 as a council member. Her party affiliation was with the

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (, SP; ), also called the Swiss Socialist Party (; , PS), is a List of political parties in Switzerland, political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council (Switzerl ...

. Ruth Erat is an author of narrative works and a member of the Association of Authors in Switzerland, the artists' professional association Visarte and the Swiss Werkbund. ''Visarte'' represents the interests of professional visual artists in Switzerland.

Works

* ''Do sprach dú ellende Sele,'' Zürich 1985 * ''Moosbrand'',

Suhrkamp Verlag Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and is generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010, ...

, Frankfurt am Main 1999

Awards

* 1990 Workers' Literature Prize (Arbeiter Literaturpreis) * 1995 Recognition Price by Culture Departement St. Gallen * 2000 Book Award Canton Berne * 2021 Main Award ''Akademie für gesprochenes Wort'', Stuttgart

References

1951 births Living people 20th-century Swiss painters 21st-century Swiss painters 20th-century Swiss women painters 21st-century Swiss women painters {{Switzerland-painter-stub