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Arno Geiger
Arno Geiger
Arno Geiger
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Arno Geiger (born 22 July 1968) is an Austrian novelist.

Key Information

Geiger grew up in the village of Wolfurt near Bregenz. He studied German studies, ancient history and comparative literature at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. He has worked as a freelance writer since 1993. From 1986 to 2002, he also worked as a technician at the annual Bregenzer Festspiele summer opera festival.

In 1996 and in 2004, he took part in the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis competition at Klagenfurt.

In October 2005, he was the recipient of the first Deutscher Buchpreis[1] literature prize (awarded by the booksellers' association of Germany) for his novel Es geht uns gut.

First published in 2011, Geiger's autobiographical The Old King in His Exile has now, with this translation into English (published by And Other Stories in 2017), been translated into 28 languages. The memoir has won literary prizes including the 2011 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize, as well as prizes from medical societies in various countries, including the 2011 German Hospice and Palliative Care Association (DHPV) Award. His novel Unter der Drachenwand, published in Germany by Hanser, was translated into English by Jamie Bulloch and was published by Picador as Hinterland in 2022.

Geiger lives in Wolfurt and Vienna.

Awards

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References

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Arno Geiger

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Arno Geiger is an Austrian novelist known for his nuanced family sagas that intertwine personal memory with historical reflection, most notably winning the inaugural Deutscher Buchpreis in 2005 for his novel Es geht uns gut. Born on 22 July 1968 in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Geiger grew up in the village of Wolfurt near Bregenz and studied German philology, ancient history, and comparative literature at the universities of Vienna and Innsbruck. He began his literary career with his debut publication in 1997 and established himself as a prominent voice in contemporary German-language literature through works that examine the weight of the past on present lives. His breakthrough came with Es geht uns gut, a family novel spanning multiple generations and praised by the prize jury for bringing the ephemeral and the moment, the historical and the private, and preservation and forgetting into a convincing balance. Geiger's subsequent novels, including Alles über Sally, Der alte König in seinem Exil, and Unter der Drachenwand, have garnered international recognition, with Der alte König in seinem Exil—an autobiographical account addressing his father's dementia—translated into numerous languages and receiving several awards. His writing consistently explores themes of memory, family dynamics, and the passage of time, earning him additional distinctions such as the Friedrich-Hölderlin-Förderpreis and broad acclaim for its precise yet accessible prose. He lives in Wolfurt and Vienna.

Early Life and Education

Birth and Upbringing

Arno Geiger was born on June 22, 1968, in Bregenz, Austria. He grew up in the nearby village of Wolfurt, a small community in the Vorarlberg region near Lake Constance where his family had deep roots. His grandparents were farmers, and his father worked as the local government clerk, contributing to a rural upbringing in the Austrian Alps overlooking the lake. Geiger continues to reside part-time in Wolfurt alongside time spent in Vienna.

University Studies

Arno Geiger studied German studies (Germanistik), ancient history (Alte Geschichte), and comparative literature (Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft) at the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. His university education in these fields took place following his Matura at the Gymnasium in Bregenz, beginning around 1987. No sources confirm completion of a degree, reflecting his eventual shift to professional writing.

Professional Career

Festival Technician Role

Arno Geiger was employed as a video technician at the Bregenzer Festspiele from 1986 to 2002. This seasonal role took place during the summer months each year at the annual summer opera festival held on Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. The position provided supplementary income and ran concurrently with his university studies in German philology, ancient history, and comparative literature, which he began in 1987 after completing his Matura. Geiger continued this technical work for sixteen years, supporting himself through the festival employment while pursuing his academic education.

Transition to Freelance Writing

In 1993, Arno Geiger transitioned to working as a freelance writer, marking his shift to professional authorship as his primary occupation. During this period, he continued his seasonal role as a videotechnician at the Bregenzer Festspiele until 2002, balancing technical employment with his emerging literary pursuits. Since establishing himself as a freelance writer, Geiger has pursued a career focused on novel writing, contributing to contemporary German-language literature from his bases in Wolfurt and Vienna. This path has allowed him to develop an extensive body of work as a novelist over the subsequent decades.

Screenplay Recognition

In 2001, Arno Geiger received the Carl-Mayer-Drehbuch-Förderpreis in Graz for an original screenplay. The award, a promotional prize named after the Austrian screenwriter Carl Mayer, recognizes promising work in scriptwriting. No evidence exists that the awarded screenplay was ever produced into a film, and Geiger holds no known film credits as a screenwriter. This remains his only documented recognition in the field of screenwriting, after which he focused exclusively on prose literature.

Television and Media Appearances

Guest Spots on Literary Programs

Arno Geiger has made numerous guest appearances as himself on German-language literary and cultural television programs, primarily to discuss his books and writing. He appeared in three episodes of the SWR talk show Literatur im Foyer between 2005 and 2011. Geiger has been a recurring guest on the SWR late-night talk show Nachtcafé, with appearances spanning 2011 to 2023 across multiple episodes. His other documented guest spots on literary-oriented programs include Druckfrisch in 2010, Menschen der Woche in 2011, Erlesen in 2015, Lesenswert in 2018, and Stöckl in 2023. All of these appearances consist of interview segments tied to the promotion and discussion of his literary publications.

Literary Works

Early Publications and Debut

Arno Geiger's literary career began with his participation in the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis competition in 1996, an appearance that established contact with the Carl Hanser Verlag. He made his debut in 1997 with the novel Kleine Schule des Karussellfahrens, published by Hanser, marking his entry as a novelist with a distinctive poetic and detail-oriented style. Geiger followed this with the novels Irrlichterloh in 1999 and Schöne Freunde in 2002, both also released by Carl Hanser Verlag, consolidating his presence in contemporary German-language literature during this formative period. In addition to his novels, he contributed short stories to various anthologies and magazines, including "Der Untermieter" in 1998, "Abdrücken" and "Erröten" in 2000, and "Abschied von Berlin" in 2004. Geiger participated in the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis competition again in 2004, continuing his engagement with prominent literary forums. These early publications and appearances represented his initial efforts in prose before achieving wider recognition.

Breakthrough Novel and Critical Acclaim

In 2005, Arno Geiger achieved his literary breakthrough with the novel Es geht uns gut, published by Carl Hanser Verlag. The book was awarded the inaugural Deutscher Buchpreis, which recognizes the best German-language novel of the year. This prize marked a pivotal moment, elevating Geiger from relative obscurity to widespread recognition and placing the novel on bestseller lists. The jury commended Es geht uns gut for its convincing balance of transience and the moment, historical and private dimensions, as well as preservation and forgetting. They highlighted its vivid depiction of three generations, structured around 21 individual days spanning 1938 to 2001, which creates a series of living portraits through carefully composed narrative cuts. In the jury's view, the novel emerges as a family story almost against its protagonist's will and speaks with equal precision and lightness about the weight of life. This critical praise underscored the work's significance as a thoughtful exploration of personal and collective history in contemporary German-language literature.

Later Novels and Memoirs

In 2011, Arno Geiger published the memoir Der alte König in seinem Exil, which offers an autobiographical account of his father's struggle with dementia. The work portrays August Geiger's final years with sensitivity, highlighting moments of vitality, humor, and unexpected wisdom amid the progressive loss of memory and orientation. Blending personal observation with narrative techniques more typical of fiction, the book includes snippets of dialogue and reflections on family history, presenting dementia not solely as decline but as a condition that reveals enduring aspects of personality. Widely acclaimed and translated into twenty-eight languages, including the English edition The Old King in His Exile published by And Other Stories in 2017, it became Geiger's bestselling title and garnered several literary prizes. In 2018, Geiger returned to fiction with the novel Unter der Drachenwand, which appeared in English translation as Hinterland in 2022. Set in 1944, the book follows Veit Kolbe, a young German soldier wounded on the Eastern Front, who recovers in the Austrian village of Mondsee beneath the Drachenwand mountain. Through Veit's interactions with local residents and his own reflections, the narrative examines the waning days of World War II, individual guilt, and the search for personal meaning amid historical upheaval. Praised for its meticulous research and crafted prose, the novel stands as a significant exploration of war's aftermath on ordinary lives.

Awards and Honors

Major Literary Prizes

Arno Geiger has been recognized with several major literary prizes that highlight his standing in German-language literature. He won the inaugural Deutscher Buchpreis in 2005 for his novel Es geht uns gut. The prize, presented by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, honors the best novel of the year in German and significantly elevated his profile as a novelist. In 2011, Geiger received the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize of the City of Bad Homburg. That same year, he was awarded the Anton Wildgans Prize. He also received the Alemannischer Literaturpreis in 2017. More recently, Geiger was honored with the Rheingau Literatur Preis in 2023. These awards reflect the consistent critical acclaim for his prose across novels and memoirs.

Other Recognitions

Arno Geiger received early support for his writing through a scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Science and Culture in 1994. This Nachwuchsstipendium recognized his emerging talent as a young author. In 1998, he was awarded the Abraham Woursell Award in New York, a prize given to young European writers of promise. In 2005, Geiger received the Förderpreis zum Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis from the city of Bad Homburg. This promotional award highlighted his literary achievement at that stage of his career. Additionally, in 2011, his memoir The Old King in His Exile earned the DHPV Award from the German Hospice and Palliative Care Association for its sensitive portrayal of dementia and end-of-life themes.

Personal Life

Residence and Family Context

Arno Geiger resides in both Vienna and Wolfurt, the village in Vorarlberg's Bregenz district where he grew up. This arrangement allows him to divide his time between the Austrian capital and his childhood home, maintaining close ties to the region and his family origins in Wolfurt. Geiger has limited public details about his immediate family, though his father remained in Wolfurt throughout his life.

References

  1. https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/auszeichnungen-arno-geiger-erhaelt-deutschen-buchpreis-a-380247.html
  2. https://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/archiv/autor/28-geiger/
  3. https://www.andotherstories.org/authors/arno-geiger/
  4. https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/arno-geiger/26645
  5. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10631652/bio/
  6. https://www.dw.com/en/arno-geiger-the-first-german-book-prize-winner/a-19554613
  7. https://literaturfestival.com/en/authors/arno-geiger/
  8. https://www.inhaltsangabe.de/autoren/geiger/
  9. https://lektuerehilfe.de/arno-geiger
  10. https://austria-forum.org/af/Biographien/Geiger%2C_Arno
  11. https://literatur-vorarlberg.at/mitglieder/geiger-arno/
  12. https://www.senatspressestelle.bremen.de/pressemitteilungen/der-bremer-literaturpreis-2019-geht-an-arno-geiger-foerderpreis-fuer-heinz-helle-309917
  13. https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/personen/arno-geiger-p-419
  14. https://www.doml.at/content/geiger-arno
  15. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10631652/
  16. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0880591/
  17. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27487464/
  18. https://www.literaturport.de/lexikon/arno-geiger/
  19. https://www.perlentaucher.de/autor/arno-geiger.html
  20. https://www.buechereule.de/wbb/thread/57090-der-alte-koenig-in-seinem-exil-arno-geiger/
  21. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33972946-the-old-king-in-his-exile
  22. https://www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/archiv/jahr/2005/
  23. https://www.dw.com/de/arno-geiger-der-erste-buchpreis-gewinner/a-19554416
  24. https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/arno-geiger-der-alte-koenig-in-seinem-exil-9783446236349-t-1051
  25. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10145259-der-alte-k-nig-in-seinem-exil
  26. https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/dementiafiction/2021/01/25/the-old-king-in-his-exile-by-arno-geiger/
  27. https://www.andotherstories.org/old-king-exile/
  28. https://www.amazon.com/Hinterland-Arno-Geiger/dp/1529003164
  29. https://books.apple.com/us/book/hinterland/id6442799861
  30. https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/beneath-drachenwand-mountain/
  31. https://peakreads.wordpress.com/2019/10/13/unter-der-drachenwand-by-arno-geiger/
  32. https://www.dtv.de/autor/arno-geiger-371
  33. https://www.kas.de/de/literaturpreis
  34. https://www.eurolitnetwork.com/rivetingreviews-lizzy-siddal-reviews-we-are-doing-fine-the-old-king-in-his-exile-and-hinterland-by-arno-geiger/
  35. https://www.hoelderlin-gesellschaft.de/website/de/friedrich-hoelderlin/hoelderlin-preise
  36. https://www.derstandard.at/story/1297216415896/arno-geiger-bekommt-friedrich-hoelderlin-preis
  37. https://www.amazon.com/Old-King-His-Exile/dp/1908276886
  38. https://restlessbooks.org/arno-geiger
  39. https://www.bozar.be/en/calendar/arno-geiger
  40. https://www.new-books-in-german.com/recommendations/the-journey-to-laredo/
  41. https://glli-us.org/2016/11/07/the-old-king-in-his-exile-by-arno-geiger/
  42. https://www.pilotonline.com/2021/07/12/book-review-in-the-old-king-in-his-exile-a-loving-portrait-of-a-father-losing-himself/
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