Gert Jonke

Gert Jonke was born on the 8^th February 1946; he died on the 4^th January 2009. He was an Austrian poet, a playwright and a novelist.

source of picture: quarterlyconversation.com

Life

Gert Jonke was born and educated in the city of Klagenfurt and that was where he attended the gymnasium and the conservatory. After his mandatory military service for the country, he continued with his college of Music and Representative Art in the city of Vienna in the Film and TV department of the institution. He though never completed his studies there. He also never completed his studies of history, philosophy, music theory or German studies in the University of Vienna that came on. Not minding that, Gert Jonke got a scholarship to study in the West Berlin and he stayed there for the next five years. He stayed in London for a year and made an extensive tour through the Middle East and South America, and settle down in his country after that.

Gert Jonke died of cancer at the age of 62 on the 4^th January 2009 in the city of Vienna. Gert Jonke was given a burial honor in the Zentralfriedhof, the Central cemetery of the city of Vienna.

Recognition

Ø  Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, 1977

Ø  Literature Prize of the University City of Marburg, 1980

Ø  Manuscripts prize of Styria, 1984

Ø  Austrian Prize for Literature, 1987

Ø  Prize of the Frankfurt Authors Foundation, 1988

Ø  Robert Musil scholarship, 1990 – 1993

Ø  International Bodensee-Culture Prize, 1991

Ø  Merit Award of the City of Vienna, 1993

Ø  Anton Wildgans Prize, 1994

Ø  Erich Fried Prize, 1997

Ø  Franz Kafka Literature Prize of the city of Klosterneuburg, 1997

Ø  Berlin Literature Prize, 1998

Ø  Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature, 2001

Ø  Nestroy Theater Prize Best Author for Chorphantasie, 2003

Ø  Kleist Prize, 2005

Ø  Arthur Schnitzler Prize, 2006

Ø  Nestroy Theatre Prize Best Author for Die versunkene Kathedrale 2006

Ø  Nestroy Theatre Prize Best Author for Free Fall, 2008

Novels (translated into English)

Ø  Geometric Regional Novel 2000

Ø  Homage to Czerny: Studies in Virtuoso Technique 2008

Ø  Blinding Moment: Four Pieces About Composers 2009

Ø  System of Vienna: From Heaven Street to Earth Mound Square 2009

Ø  The Distant Sound, 2010.

Ø  Awakening to the Great Sleep War, 2012.

Theatreplays

Ø  At that time, Graz, Forum Stadtpark Graz 1989

Ø  The Perfidy of the Wind Machines

Ø  Gentle Rage or the Ear Engineer, Theater Sonata, Styriate Graz 1990

Ø  Opus 111, Volkstheater Vienna 1993

Ø  The Presence of Memory, Volkstheater Vienna 1995

Ø  There sing the Stones, Stadttheater Klagenfurt 1998

Ø  Insektarium, Volkstheater Vienna 1999

Ø  The Birds, UA Volkstheater Wien 2002

Ø  Choir Phantasy, Schauspielhaus Graz, 2003

Ø  Speaker around the Clock, Semper-Depot Vienna, 2004

Ø  Strange Case, Ruhrtriennale, 2005

Ø  The Sunken Cathedral, Burgtheater Vienna 2005

Ø  Gentle Rage or The Ear Engineer, 2006

Ø  Free Fall, UA Akademietheater Vienna 2008

Ø  Bursting Suddenly, 2008