Monika Helfer is an Austrian writer. She was born in 1947 in the Au/Bregenzerwald and grew up partly in the mountains in a holiday home for war victims where her father worked.
She lives now with her family in the Vorarlberg. She has written several novels, short stories and children’s books, for which she has received numerous awards, including the Robert-Musil- Stipendium, the Austrian Würdigungspreis for Literature and the Solothurner Prize for Literature. In 2017 her novel, Schau mich an, wenn ich mit dir rede , was nominated for the German Book Prize.
In her two most recent novels, die Bagage and Vati, she has turned to autobiographical themes. Die Bagage, for which she was awarded the Schubart-Literaturpreis in January 2021, is based on the life of her grandmother, Maria Moosbrugger. Vati is based on the life of her father. (2021)