In focus

Aglaja Veteranyi (1962–2002) was a writer, playwright, actor and performer. Her debut novel, “Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta”, deals with the nomadic and unsettled life of her circus performer family. Her extensive estate documents her multifaceted work.

Agota Kristof (1935–2011) was born in Hungary and came to Switzerland in 1956. Initially a playwright and poet, she made her name between 1986 and 1991 with the publication of the “Trilogie des jumeaux”.

Alice Ceresa was an Italian-speaking Swiss author who lived in Rome. Her estate is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Andri Peer (1921–1985) è stat in scriptur activ sin blers champs da la litteratura: sco impurtant innovatur da la poesia rumantscha ha el publitgà er raquints e gieus auditivs en rumantsch e tudestg. Empli vegniva el apprezià sco critic e mediatur cultural.

Winner of the Swiss Grand Award for Literature in 2018, Anna Felder is a major author whose works are regularly studied and analysed by literary critics.

Swiss writer, journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908–1942) left an extensive collection of important photographs in addition to her literary work.

Blaise Cendrars (1887−1961) was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Granted French citizenship in recognition of his having volunteered in the First World War, he is the author of a diverse oeuvre: poetry, novels, journalism and “memoirs that aren’t memoirs”.

Carl Spitteler (1845–1924), Swiss writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1919. Known for his verse epic “Olympian Spring” and for his “Unser Schweizer Standpunkt” speech in favour of neutrality on the outbreak of the First World War.

Author Christoph Geiser rose to fame thanks to his acclaimed family sagas “Grünsee” and “Brachland” as well as his novels focusing on the artists Caravaggio and Marquis de Sade. Geiser’s literary work is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Cla Biert è stà in trubadur e narratur rumantsch. El ha publitgà numerus raquints ed il roman «La müdada». Dapi il 1992 vegn ses relasch conservà en l’Archiv svizzer da litteratura.

Donata Berra (1947) is a poet, translator and lecturer. The papers in her literary archive testify to the genesis of her poetry and literary translations, as well as their reviews and extensive correspondence with other authors.

Erika Burkart (1922−2010) is one of the most important poets to have written in the German language. In addition to numerous volumes of poetry, she also published a number of works in prose. Her visual idiom draws heavily on nature.

Eugen Gomringer was one of the most important Swiss poets of the 20th century. With his concrete poetry, which he developed both practically and theoretically in the 1950s, he brought about a lasting modernization of post-war poetry.

Eveline Hasler (b. 1933) writes books for adults and children. Her material is based on historical research and her characters are psychologically rounded. Her biographies deal chiefly with outsiders in Swiss and European history.

Franco Beltrametti is considered one of the most important Swiss authors of the “Beat Generation”. His estate in the Swiss Literary Archives is an important resource for studies into alternative cultural movements internationally.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990) was an internationally successful dramatist and writer of crime novels. Late in his life he produced the major autobiographical work “Stoffe”. His pictorial works did not become widely known until after his death.

Georges Borgeaud (1914–1998) settled in France in 1946, having previously worked as a private tutor and bookseller in Switzerland and Belgium. He is the author of novels (“Le Voyage à l’étranger”) as well as numerous articles and chronicles on painting.

The work of Gerhard Meier (1917−2008) is characterised by the meticulous observation of life in the village he called Amrain, which becomes a world in its own right. Two friends, Baur and Bindschädler, conduct a dialogue that ranges across nature, religion, art, literature and music.

Giovanni Orelli (1928–2016) was a writer working in multiple formats, including prose, poetry and radio plays, who was also a prominent critic, editor and intellectual.

Golo Mann was a German-Swiss historian and writer. His principal works are the "Deutsche Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts" and the literary biography "Wallenstein". His estate is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Hans Walter (1912−1992) is an unjustly forgotten voice of 20th-century Swiss literature in German. His stories, in particular, describe tragedies that mostly occur unnoticed, and in which he exposes the illusions and routines of self-deception that often give people something to hold on to in everyday life.

Hansjörg Schertenleib is one of Switzerland’s most prolific and successful German-language writers. He is best known for the novels “Das Zimmer der Signora”, “Das Regenorchester”, “Jawaka” and “Palast der Stille”.

The work of Heinrich Federer (1866−1928) centres around the depiction of rural life in Switzerland, with an additional focus on Italy. It is imbued with a love of the simple, natural life and a strong social conscience.

Hermann Burger (1942–89) was a Swiss writer. His most important works include “Schilten” and “Die künstliche Mutter”. His estate is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Hermann Hesse’s novels such as «Demian» are considered classics of world literature. The Swiss Literary Archives hold a much-used part of the estate of this great poet, who spent half of his life in Ticino.

Hugo Loetscher (1929–2009) war als Schriftsteller mit Romanen wie «Abwässer» und «Der Immune» ebenso bekannt wie als polyglotter Essayist, weniger hingegen als promovierter politischer Philosoph.

A philologist, philosopher and critic born in Alsace of Jewish heritage, Jean Bollack was a scholar of the philosophers, Greek tragedy, and German and French literature.

Jean Starobinski (1920−2019) is the author of an internationally renowned body of work in the fields of criticism and metacriticism. His literary estate, comprising an extensive library, is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Mani Matter (1936−72) was one of Switzerland's best-known singer-songwriters. He composed songs that combine simple, folk-style melodies with multi-layered and humorous lyrics that cast a critical eye on various topics.

Maria Waser (1878−1939) is one of the most important poets to have written in the German language. In addition to numerous volumes of verse, she also published a number of works in prose. Her visual idiom draws heavily on nature.

Maurice Chappaz (1916−2009) is a key figure in the literature of French-speaking Switzerland, and was one half of a famous writing couple with S. Corinna Bille. The author of “Portrait des Valaisans” and “Maquereaux des cimes blanches” donated his archives to the Swiss National Library in 1981.

Otto F. Walter (1928−1994) is one of the leading Swiss prose writers from the second half of the 20th century. His work deals with social and political issues related to Switzerland.

The American writer Patricia Highsmith died in Locarno on 4 February 1995. Her literary estate is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Peider Lansel è stà in poet rumantsch, in editur e politicher da cultura decisiv. El è s’engaschà per la cultura e per la legitimaziun dal rumantsch sco quarta lingua naziunala.

Remo Fasani (1922–2011) was a poet, critic and university professor. Prominent among his literary works are studies and poems in which Fasani addresses sensitive issues including exile, solitude and the environment.

Der deutsche Schriftstellers Rolf Hochhuth, der mit seinem Erstlingsdrama «Der Stellvertreter» (1963) international bekannt wurde, ist am 13. Mai 2020 89-jährig in Berlin gestorben.

Silja Walter (1919−2011) lived as a nun in the Benedictine convent of Fahr. Her writings revolve around her engagement with the Rule of St. Benedict, faith and the nun’s relationship to God.

Ulrich Becher was a German playwright and novelist. His most famous work is the exile novel «Murmeljagd». Part of his estate is held in the Swiss Literary Archives.

Walter Vogt (1927−1988) is a leading voice of Swiss literature in German during the second half of the 20th century. The sufferings of the individual constrained by society’s norms and the blind raging of the powerful run like a thread throughout his work.