was the Writer in Residence for 2010 at the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre in London. Mischkulnig’s work includes the novels ‘Hollywood in Winter’ (Hollywood im Winter), published in 1996, and ‘Embrace’ (Umarmung), which appeared in 2002, as well as the short story collections ‘Seven Temptations’ (Sieben Versuchungen) (1998), and most recently, ‘Don’t Worry. Nine Visitations’ (Macht euch keine Sorgen. Neun Heimsuchungen), published in 2009. The Austrian author’s distinctive and uncompromising voice has earned her the prestigious Bertelsmann Literaturpreis at the Ingeborg Bachmann Wettbewerb (1996) and the Manuskripte-Preis (2002).
Mischkulnig gave a reading from ‘Don’t Worry’ at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London in June 2010. You can read the two short stories from her reading here, in German (
Die Firma, Viewing), and in English (
The Company, Viewing) in a translation by Morwenna Symons. We also have an exclusive translation of a third short story from that collection,
Protagonist's Nemesis, in a version by Rachel McNicholl.
Praise for ‘Don’t Worry. Nine Visitations’ (Macht euch keine Sorgen. Neun Heimsuchungen, Haymon, 2009):
‘Lydia Mischkulnig has mastered the art of fusing wit and irritation, and in her new short stories she uncovers the morbid in everyday experiences.’
– Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
‘Lydia Mischkulnig seeks out situations in which the mundane tips over into the absurd.’– Süddeutsche Zeitung
Mischkulnig was born in Klagenfurt and studied at the University for Music and Performing Arts, Graz and at the Film Academy in Vienna. In 2008 she was Visiting Professor at Nagoya University in Japan. She now lives in Vienna.
Her acclaimed new novel, Schwestern der Angst (‘Sisters of Fear’), was published in 2010 by Haymon.
See also:
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