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.

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.

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, 2021
  • In einer dunkelblauen Stunde, novel, S. Fischer, Frankfurt, 2023
  • Otto von Irgendwas, children's book, Atlantis Kinderbuch 2024

    Plays

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

    Radio dramas

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

    Editor

  • Diensttage, 2003

    Translations

  • Susan Musgrave: Träum dir eine Badewanne, 2002

    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.