Thomas Meyer (writer)

Thomas Meyer in the Literaturhaus Munich

Thomas Meyer (* 1974 in Zurich ) is a Swiss writer , screenwriter , copywriter and action artist .

Life and work

Thomas Meyer was born in Zurich to a Jewish mother and a Christian father and grew up in Mellingen and Wädenswil . After dropping out of law school at the University of Zurich , he worked as a copywriter in advertising agencies and as a reporter as well as editor-in-chief.

He first gained attention as an author from 1998 with online columns published under the pseudonym Hans pain and as the author of the Zurich underground magazine KULT . In 2007 he started his own business as an author and copywriter. He lives and works in Zurich.

Sticker for “Aktion für ein Kluges Zürich”, a street art project by Thomas Meyer (Zurich, 2008)

In 2012 Meyer's debut novel Wolkenbruch's miraculous journey into the arms of a Schickse was published by Salis Verlag. The novel, which deals with the love affairs of a young Orthodox Jew and combines German with Yiddish , was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize in 2012 and was on the official Swiss bestseller list for a total of 70 weeks. In 2013 Thomas Meyer received the recognition award of the Zolliker Art Prize for the work, which has so far been sold over 165,000 times .

The book was filmed under the same title in the summer of 2017 . Meyer wrote the script and the Swiss Michael Steiner directed . The film was the most successful Swiss production in 2018 and was nominated five times for the Swiss Film Award 2019, including for the best screenplay. It is also the first Swiss production to be shown worldwide on Netflix. In 2019 he published the sequel Wolkenbruch's daring tryst with the spy . Again he spoke the audio book himself. It was nominated for the German Audiobook Prize in the category "Best Entertainment".

In 2015, Salis Verlag published Meyer's historical novel Invoice over my ducats . The work is about the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I and the Lange Kerls - his bodyguard made up of great men. It uses a number of 18th century expressions and spellings. The framework is a love story between one of the involuntarily recruited "six-footed" and a tall Potsdam baker's daughter.

"Action for a smart Zurich"

From 2007 to 2010 Thomas Meyer carried out the street art project “Action for a Smart Zurich” by putting up stickers with questions in public spaces. In 2013, a postcard set by Meyer was published by Salis Verlag , entitled Who would you never send a postcard to? partly takes up questions from this campaign.

"Office for Irony"

Stickers based on the official vehicle lettering on Thomas Meyer's private car

In 2014 Thomas Meyer marked his private car with the label "City of Zurich - Office for Irony". Next to it is the official Zurich city coat of arms. The city of Zurich threatened Meyer with consequences several times in the media.

Works

Fiction

Wolkenbruch's wonderful journey into the arms of a darling. Salis, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-905801-59-0 . (10 editions); as a special edition with script, limited to 1000 copies: Salis, Zurich 2018, ISBN 978-3-906195-80-3 ; as a paperback (11 editions): Diogenes, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-257-24280-5 (with Yiddish glossary and matze dumpling recipe ); as audio book (director: Martha Schoknecht): 4 CDs, read by the author himself (unabridged), Diogenes, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-257-80339-6 .
- Italian: Non tutte le sciagure vengono dal cielo. Keller, Rovereto 2015, ISBN 978-88-89767-74-0 .
- Hungarian: Zuhé úr csodálatos utazása egy siksze karjaiba. KuK Publishing, Budapest 2015, ISBN 978-6-155-36119-7 .
Bill for my ducats. Salis, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-906195-13-1 ; as paperback: Diogenes, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-257-24327-7 .
- French: La fabrique des géants de sa majesté. Piranha, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-37119-043-6 .
I ask what kind of tea it is, it tastes so good (short story). Salis, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-906195-38-4 .
If loneliness weren't so helpful, one could easily despair of it. Salis, Zurich 2015, ISBN 978-3-906195-34-6 (7 editions).
Split up! Salis, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-906195-48-3 ; as paperback: Diogenes, Zurich, 2018, ISBN 978-3-257-24427-4 ; as audio book: 1 CD, read by Omid-Paul Eftehari, Verlag GESAFA, Viersen 2018, ISBN 978-3-943273-06-9 .
Different types of waiting . Diogenes, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-257-79122-8 .
Meyer's little pocket dictionary . Salis, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-906195-85-8 .
Meyer advises . (Column collection). Observer, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-03875-181-6 .
Wolkenbruch's daring rendezvous with the spy. Diogenes, Zurich, 2019, ISBN 978-3-257-07080-4 ; as audio book (director: Martha Schoknecht): 5 CDs, read by the author himself (unabridged), Diogenes, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-257-80408-9 .

script

Wolkenbruch's wonderful journey into the arms of a darling . Filming August to October 2017 in Zurich and Tel Aviv by the production companies Turnus Film (Zurich) and DCM (Berlin). Director: Michael Steiner .

Other works

Who in your life would you never send a postcard to? Set of 48 postcards. Salis, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-905801-86-6 .
Die Federhure ff . Fairlane, Zurich 2002, ISBN 395-2-252-20-4
The spring whore. Columnar volume. Edition J. Zentner, Zurich 2001