| Utz Rachowski was born in 1954 in Plauen/Vogtland, East Germany. 1979 arrest for “subversive agitation” for copying and distributing own poetry as well as texts by Jürgen Fuchs, Wolf Biermann, and Reiner Kunze. 1980 expatriation and release through Amnesty International to West Germany. Study of art history and philosophy in West Berlin. Since then, freelance writer of prose, poetry, and radio plays. From 1993-1999, co-editor of the literary journal Ostragehege. Since 2003 part-time rehabilitation advising to victims of the GDR dictatorship under the auspices of the Saxony State Commission for the Stasi Files. Readings and lectures throughout Germany, the U.S.A., Sweden, Denmark, Senegal, Lithuania, and Poland. Works translated into English, Polish, French, Serbian, and Finnish. (2013)
Books
Miss Suki oder Amerika ist nicht weit! (Mironde Verlag 2013)
Beide Sommer (Leipziger Literaturverlag, 2011)
Meine Sommer, meine Winter, und das andere (edition erata, 2006)
Red’ mir nicht von Minnigerode (Dresden Thelem, 2006)
Namenlose (BasisDruck Berlin, 1993)
Erinnerungen an eine Jugend (Chemnitzer Verlag, 1995)
Mein Museum (Hellerau-Verlag Dresden, 1995)
Die Stimmen des Sommers (Oberbaum, Verlag, 1992)
Sieben Jahre (1991)
Der letzte Tag der Kindheit (Oberbaum Verlag, 1986)
Erzählungen: So traurig wie Sie (Verlag Europäische Ideen, 1983)
Documentary Films about Utz Rachowski and exiled writers
Jeder schweigt von etwas anderem (dir. Marc Bauder, Dörte Francke, 2006)
Die gefrorene Zeit: Vier Dichter über ihre Stadt (MDR u. WDR 1994)
Awards and Prizes
Nomination for a Pushcart Prize (2013)
Writer in Residence at Gettysburg College (2013)
Hermann Hesse Stipend (2008)
Reiner Kunze Prize (first recipient, 2007)
Alfred Döblin Stipend (1989)
Andreas Gryphius Grant (1987)
Eduard Mörike Grant (1991)
Hermann Sudermann Foundation Prize (1988 and 2009)
Numerous stipends from the Free State of Saxony / Cultural Foundation Saxony (1993-2006)
Websites
www.utzrachowski.de
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utz_Rachowski
http://www.exilpen.de/HTML/Mitglieder/DA/rachowski.html
http://www.exilpen.de/HTML/Texte/rachowski_060318.html
http://www.poetenladen.de/utz-rachowski.htm |
Winter 2013 (Issue 08), My Pennsylvania Yard
