Donauland: Nonfiction Book Award "Danubius" For Karl-Markus Gauss

The Danubius

Karl-Markus Gauss was born in 1954 in Salzburg, where he studied history and German language and literature. His early literary essays and reviews were published in the "Wiener Tagebuch" (Viennese Diary.) Since 1991, Gauss has been publisher and editor of the literary magazine "Literatur und Kritik. " He also writes regularly for major Austrian, German and Swiss news papers and magazines, such as the "Sueddeutsche Zeitung," “Neue Zurcher Zeitung,” “Die Zeit” and “Die Presse.” His best known books include “Die sterbenden Europäer” (T he Dying Europeans ) "Die Hundeesser von Svinia” (The Dog-Eaters of Svinia,) “Die fröhlichen Untergeher von Roana” ( The Happy Failure Of Roana ) as well as the journals “Mit mir, ohne mich” (With Me, Without Me) and "Zu früh, zu spat ” (Too Early, Too Late,) which have been translated into many languages. Gauss has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry since 2006.

The €10,000 Danubius 2008 Donauland Nonfiction Book Award will be presented at a ceremony at the end of September 2009. Karl-Markus Gauss is the 34th winner. The award was presented for the first time in 1975 to Konrad Lorenz. The patrons of the award, Wilhelm Scheriau and Reinhard Mohn, aim to promote modern nonfiction literature. Past laureates include Hugo Portisch, Bruno Kreisky, Kardinal Franz König, Hans Hass, Alice Schwarzer, Oliver Rathkolb and Erich Hackl .