Melinda Nadj Abonji

Melinda Nadj Abonji at a reading (2011)

Melinda Nadj Abonji ( Hungarian Nagy Abonyi Melinda , born June 22, 1968 in Bečej , SFR Yugoslavia , today Serbia ) is a Hungarian - Swiss writer , musician and art performer . In 2010 she won the German Book Prize and the Swiss Book Prize .

Life

Melinda Nadj Abonji, born in the province of Bečej , came to Switzerland from what was then Yugoslavia at the age of five . Her family belonged to the Hungarian minority in Yugoslavia. Arriving in 1973 with her parents in German-speaking Switzerland, she learned German as the language of her new environment much faster than her parents, for whom she often had to interpret. Nadj Abonji finished her studies at the University of Zurich in 1997 with a degree . She has now received Swiss citizenship and has lived in Zurich for many years .

As a writer of literary texts, she took part in the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition in Klagenfurt in 2004 . She also appears as a solo performer , and together with the rapper Jurczok 1001 as a musician with vocals and violin.

Nadj Abonji is a member of the Association of Authors of Switzerland . She has already made numerous appearances as a text performer ( Solothurn Literature Days , International Literature Festival Berlin , International Literature Festival Leukerbad , Theater La Fourmi Lucerne and others). She has written numerous articles for literary magazines (including Drehpunkt bei Lenos; manuscripts and drafts ) and anthologies .

In 2010 her novel Taubenfly auf was published, which also contains autobiographical elements. In this book she reports about the Kocsis family, members of the Hungarian minority in northern Serbia , who moved to Zurich. The novel was awarded the German Book Prize 2010. For the first time, this award went to a book author from Switzerland. Nadj Abonji also received the Swiss Book Prize 2010 for the same title.

In 2017 her novel Schildkrötensoldat was published , for which she received the Schiller Prize of the Zürcher Kantonalbank in 2018 .

Awards

• Cultural award from the Canton of Zurich in 1998.
• Work grant from the Federal Office for Culture 1998.
• 1998 year of work for the Marianne and Curt Dienemann Foundation.
• Scholarship at the Literary Colloquium Berlin 2000.
• Hermann Ganz Prize 2001.
• Work grant from the Cassinelli Vogel Foundation 2001.
• Approval from the City of Zurich in 2004.
• Work grant from the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia 2006.
• Cross-border commuter scholarship from the Robert Bosch Foundation .
• German Book Prize 2010.
• Swiss Book Prize 2010.
• Literature Work Year of the City of Zurich 2010.
• Schiller Prize from the Zürcher Kantonalbank for her novel Schildkrötensoldat 2018

Works

Printed texts (selection)

• The man without a neck and the Grand Canal . In: Renate Nagel, Regula Walser (ed.): Jump on the platform. Nagel & Kimche , Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-312-00243-5 .
• Man over man. Texts on pictures by Per Traasdahl. Kunstnetzwerk, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-00-007673-5 .
• In the shop window in spring. Novel. Ammann , Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-250-60073-3 .
• Pigeons fly up . Novel. Jung und Jung , Salzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-902497-78-9 .
• Turtle soldier . Novel. Suhrkamp Verlag , Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-518-42759-0 .

Sound carrier

• Voice Beatbox Violin (CD and short prose, together with Jurczok 1001). Masterplanet 2006.
• Jenci. On the compilation Sounds from Home / La Suisse international. faze records 2006.
• Interrogate. (together with Balts Nill). Intakt Records 2014.

theatre

• Moon? Moon! A choral story. First performed at Theater 611, Lucerne, August 2006.
• Pigeons fly up . First performed in the Lucerne Theater on March 10, 2017.

broadcast

• A dog won't make bacon. Radio DRS 2, broadcast on October 2, 2006.

Online publications

• Buttonhole. One piece. masterplanet.ch, online since April 20, 2007
• And once. masterplanet.ch, online since April 20, 2007

literature

• Melinda Nadj Abonji in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Publications by and about Melinda Nadj Abonji in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
• Literature by and about Melinda Nadj Abonji in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography and information on the work of Melinda Nadj Abonji at Literaturport
• Short biography and reviews of works by Melinda Nadj Abonji at perlentaucher.de
• Website by Melinda Nadj Abonji and Jurczok 1001
• Nadj Abonji at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition 2004
• The artist in contributions from Radio DRS2.
• Interview with the artist at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on December 23, 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Andre: Melinda Nadj Abonji: Arriving in Language. In the Hamburger Abendblatt from October 5, 2010.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Surprise in Frankfurt - Melinda Nadj Abonji receives German Book Prize. Süddeutsche Zeitung from October 5, 2010.
3. ^ "Outstanding literary work" - Swiss Book Prize to Melinda Nadj Abonji , acknowledgment in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 14, 2010.
4. ↑ Author Melinda Nadj Abonji: It is necessary to look back ( memento of the original from September 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Interview in the Luzerner Zeitung , March 9, 2017. 
5. ^ Cross-border commuter program of the Robert Bosch Foundation
6. ↑ Press release of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association of October 4, 2010, accessed on January 14, 2011.
7. ↑ Swiss Book Prize for Nadj Abonji. Radio interview with Felix Schneider on the occasion of the award ceremony, accessed on November 14, 2010.
8. ^ Cultural awards 2010. On the website of the City of Zurich, accessed on December 2, 2010.
9. ↑ Reading sample from In the shop window in spring. ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. At lyrikwelt.de, accessed on January 14, 2011. 
10. ↑ Andrea Diener : A war is a war, a labor camp is a labor camp. Book review on FAZ.NET of September 10, 2010, accessed on January 14, 2011.