Peter Stamm


Peter Stamm is a Swiss writer. His prize-winning books have been translated into more than thirty languages. For his entire body of work and his accomplishments in fiction, he was nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2013, and in 2014 he won the prestigious Friedrich Hölderlin Prize.
WWW peterstamm.chFB autorstamm

Life

Peter Stamm grew up in Weinfelden in the canton of Thurgau the son of an accountant. After completing primary and secondary school he spent three years as an apprentice accountant and then five as an accountant. He then chose to go back to school at the University of Zurich taking courses in a variety of fields including English studies, Business informatics, Psychology, and Psychopathology. During this time he also worked as an intern at a psychiatric clinic. After living for a time in New York, Paris, and Scandinavia he settled down in 1990 as a writer and freelance journalist in Zurich. He wrote articles for, among others, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Tages-Anzeiger, Die Weltwoche, and the satirical newspaper Nebelspalter. Since 1997 he has belonged to the editorial staff of the quarterly literary magazine "Entwürfe für Literatur." He lives in Winterthur.
Peter Stamm has written prose, radio drama, and plays. He is most known for his cool and sparse writing style. Since 2003 Stamm has been a member of the group "Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz".
In the fall term 2018 Peter Stamm was the tenth Friedrich Dürrenmatt Guest Professor for World Literature at the University of Bern.

Prizes

Stamm has received a number of literature prizes.

Works

Prose

Alles über den Mann, 1995 Gotthard, 1997 Agnes, 1998 Blitzeis, 1999 Ungefähre Landschaft, 2001 In fremden Gärten, 2003 Warum wir vor der Stadt wohnen, 2005 An einem Tag wie diesem, 2006 Wir fliegen, 2008 Sieben Jahre, 2009 Seerücken, 2011 Nacht ist der Tag, 2013 Weit über das Land, 2016 Die sanfte Gleichgültigkeit der Welt, 2018 Das Archiv der Gefühle, novel, S. Fischer, Frankfurt, 2021In einer dunkelblauen Stunde, novel, S. Fischer, Frankfurt, 2023 Otto von Irgendwas, children's book, Atlantis Kinderbuch 2024

Plays

Die Planung des Planes Monologue, Schauspielhaus ZürichFremd gehen, Theater 1230, Bern 1995Après Soleil oder Wen der Wind zur Insel trägt, Theater Saarbrücken 2002Der Kuss des Kohaku, Schauspielhaus Hamburg 2004Die Töchter von Taubenhain, Theater Osnabrück 2004

Radio dramas

Ich und die anderen 1991Die Nacht der Gewohnheiten 1993In Vitro Zürich 1994Der letzte Autofahrer 1995Bildnis eines Knaben mit Peitsche 1995

Editor

Diensttage, 2003

Translations

In translation

Several of Stamm's works have been translated into English by Michael Hofmann, and published in the United States by Other Press. These include novels Seven Years, Agnes, Unformed Landscape, and On a Day Like This, as well as In Strange Gardens and Other Stories, a collection of short stories.