Klaus Merz
Klaus Merz (born 3 October 1945 in Aarau, canton Aargau) is a Swiss writer, who writes in German. • Illustration — Klaus Merz
Klaus Merz
Pixiufilms · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1945 · Aarau.
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- poet · writer
- Fields
- prose
- Honours
- Solothurner Literaturpreis · Gottfried-Keller-Preis · Hermann-Hesse-Preis · Rainer-Malkowski-Preis · Christine Lavant prize · Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis
- Languages
- German
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Klaus Merz, a writer, was born on 3 October 1945 in Aarau.
Life
The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Activity
Unterkulm is recorded as a place of activity by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q123127 · wikipedia · Klaus Merz
In this article
Life
Life
As a teacher (secondary school), Merz has worked in adult education. He has won several prices, e.g. the famous Hermann Hesse Prize for Literature in 1997, the Gottfried-Keller-Preis in 2004 and the Werkpreis der schweizerischen Schillerstiftung in 2005. He wrote a lot of narrations and stories, e.g. Adams Kostüm or the short novel Jakob schläft. Merz has also made poems (Kurze Durchsage) – his works are rather short. But the titles already show Merz's special ability: He manages it, to place two or three banal words, one next to the other, and it starts "buzzing" amongst them. Today, Merz lives in Unterkulm as a narrator and lyric poet.
Complete edition
Complete edition
• Band 1: Die Lamellen stehen offen. Frühe Lyrik 1963–1991. Haymon, Innsbruck 2011. • Band 2: In der Dunkelkammer. Frühe Prosa 1971–1982. Haymon, Innsbruck 2011. • Band 3: Fährdienst. Prosa 1983–1995. Haymon, Innsbruck 2012. • Band 4: Der Mann mit der Tür oder Vom Nutzen des Unnützen. Feuilletons. Haymon, Innsbruck 2013. • Band 5: Das Gedächtnis der Bilder. Texte zu Malerei und Fotografie. Haymon, Innsbruck 2014. • Band 6: Brandmale des Glücks. Prosa 1996–2014. Haymon, Innsbruck 2014. • Band 7: Außer Rufweite. Lyrik 1992–2013. Haymon, Innsbruck 2015.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1945
Klaus Merz born at Aarau.
Film
• Merzluft. documentary about Klaus Merz. Cast: Melinda Nadj Abonji, Peter von Matt, Manfred Papst, Markus Bundi, Robert Hunger-Bühler and Heinz Egger. Director: Heinz Bütler. Production: Pixiu Films, 2015.
Erika-Schreibmaschine des Autors Klaus Merz (Schweizerisches Literaturarchiv)
Hadi
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly index
- OpenAlex author record A5009799841 for Klaus Merz.
General reference · OpenAlex
reference work
- “Klaus Merz”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q123127: Klaus Merz
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
• 1979: Prize of the Schiller Foundation, Switzerland (Latentes Material) • 1992: Literature Prize Aargau, Switzerland • 1996: Solothurner Literaturpreis, Switzerland • 1997: Prize of the Schiller Foundation, Switzerland (Jakob schläft) • 1997: Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis, Karlsruhe, Germany (Jakob schläft) • 1999: Prix Littéraire Lipp (Frère Jacques) • 2004: Gottfried-Keller-Preis, Zurich, Switzerland • 2005: Prize of the Schiller Foundation, Switzerland (Los) • 2005: Culture Prize Aargau • Book Prize Zurich 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010 • 2012: Poetry Prize Basel • 2012: Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis, Bad Homburg, Germany • 2016: Rainer-Malkowski-Preis, Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany • 2018: Christine Lavant Prize, Vienna, Austria
Selected bibliography
• Mit gesammelter Blindheit. Gedichte. Tschudy, St. Gallen 1967. • Geschiebe – mein Land. Gedichte. Sauerländer, Aarau 1969. • Vier Vorwände ergeben kein Haus. Gedichte. Artemis, Zürich 1972. • Obligatorische Übung. Geschichten. Sauerländer, Aarau 1975. • Latentes Material. Erzählungen. Sauerländer, Aarau 1978. • Der Entwurf. Erzählung. AutorenEdition, München 1982. • Landleben. Geschichten. Howeg, Zürich 1982. • Bootsvermietung. Prosa, Gedichte. Howeg, Zürich 1985. • Tremolo Trümmer. Erzählungen. Ammann, Zürich 1988. • Nachricht vom aufrechten Gang. Prosa, Gedichte. Howeg, Zürich 1991. • Am Fuss des Kamels. Geschichten & Zwischengeschichten. Haymon, Innsbruck 1994. • Kurze Durchsage. Gedichte & Prosa. Nachwort von Werner Morlang. Haymon, Innsbruck 1995. • Jakob schläft. Eigentlich ein Roman. Nachwort von Peter von Matt. Haymon, Innsbruck 1997, Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2006 • Kommen Sie mit mir ans Meer, Fräulein? Roman. Haymon, Innsbruck 1998. • Garn. Prosa und Gedichte. Haymon, Innsbruck 2000. • Adams Kostüm. Drei Erzählungen. Haymon, Innsbruck 2001. • Das Turnier der Bleistiftritter. Achtzehn Begegnungen. Nachwort von Markus Kutter. Haymon, Innsbruck 2003. • Die Tiere ziehen los! Eine Entdeckungsreise in die Fluss-Auen. Bilderbuch (mit Petra Rappo). Atlantis, Zürich 2003. • Löwen Löwen. Venezianische Spiegelungen. Haymon, Innsbruck 2004. • Los. Eine Erzählung. Haymon, Innsbruck 2005. • Kunos große Fahrt. Bilderbuch (mit Hannes Binder). NordSüd, Gossau 2005. • Priskas Miniaturen. Zwanzig Erzählungen 1978–1988. Nachwort von Werner Morlang. Haymon, Innsbruck 2005. • Der gestillte Blick. Sehstücke. Haymon, Innsbruck 2007. • Der Argentinier. Novelle. Pinselzeichnungen von Heinz Egger. Haymon, Innsbruck 2009. • Aussicht mit Zimmer. Texte zu Fotos von Stephan Schenk. Steidl, Göttingen 2009. • Aus dem Staub. Gedichte. Haymon, Innsbruck 2010. • Unerwarteter Verlauf. Gedichte. Haymon, Innsbruck 2013. • Helios Transport. Gedichte. Haymon, Innsbruck 2016. • Flüsterndes Licht. Ein Kettengedicht. Gemeinsam mit Nora Gomringer, Marco Grosse, Annette Hagemann und Ulrich Koch. Haymon, Innsbruck 2017. • firma. Prosa Gedichte. Mit acht Pinselzeichnungen von Heinz Egger. Haymon, Innsbruck-Wien 2019.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Klaus Merz, revision 1358848143 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
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scholarly index
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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