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Elfriede Jelinek
(born 20.10.1946 in Mürzzuschlag/Styria), author
Elfriede Jelinek attended the Vienna Conservatory at an early age. Later she studied art history and theatre in Vienna. Her first volume of poetry was published in 1967. Her literary breakthrough came in 1975 with the novel "die liebhaberinnen" ("Women as Lovers", trans. by Martin Chalmers, London: Serpent's Tail). Elfriede Jelinek's work includes novels, plays, poetry, essays, translations, radio plays, screenplays and libretti. In it, she examines the economic and social conditions in Germany and Austria, criticises patriarchal structures and addresses Austria's entanglements with National Socialism. Many of her works sparked public debates, such as her play "Burgtheater" (i.e. Burgtheater, farce with songs, 1985) or her novel "Lust" (1989). As one of the most important contemporary German-language authors, she has received numerous prizes and honours, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 1998 and the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis several times. In 2004 Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She lives in Munich and Vienna.