Urs Widmer
Urs Widmer (21 May 1938 – 2 April 2014) was a Swiss novelist, playwright, an essayist, and a short story writer.
Urs Widmer

Dontworry · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1938. · Basel.
- Died
- 2014. · Zurich.
- Nationality
- Switzerland.
- Occupation
- translator, writer, playwright, literary editor, literary critic, journalist, film screenwriter and actor.
- Fields
- prose.
- Education
- University of Basel and University of Montpellier.
- Honours
- Mainz resident writer, Franz Nabl Prize, manuskripte award, Swiss Book Prize, Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis and Preis der SWR-Bestenliste.
- Languages
- German and Swiss German.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q123825 · wikipedia · Urs Widmer
In this article
Biography
Biography
Urs Widmer studied at University of Basel and University of Montpellier. The recorded working language is German and Swiss German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are prose. Places of work recorded in the authority are Frankfurt and Zurich. Employment is recorded with Goethe University Frankfurt. Distinctions recorded are Mainz resident writer, Franz Nabl Prize, manuskripte award and Swiss Book Prize.
Widmer was born in Basel in 1938, and for many years lived in Zurich. Widmer studied German, French, and history at the universities of Basel and Montpellier. After completing his PhD, he worked briefly as an editor at Suhrkamp Verlag, but left the publishing house during the Lektoren-Aufstand ("Editors' Revolt") of 1968. In 2014, Roman Bucheli, Literary Editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, said that Widmer: "is without doubt one of the most significant and versatile talents currently at work in the field of contemporary German-language literature as well as one of the most successful. His sales are invariably in the high five-figure bracket"
Works in English translation
Works in English translation
My mother's lover ("Der Geliebte meiner Mutter"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2011], ISBN 978-1-906-49796-5. My father's book ("Das Buch des Vaters"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2011], ISBN 978-0-857-42017-6. On life, death, and this and that of the rest. The Frankfurt lectures on poetics ("Vom Leben, vom Tod und vom Übrigen auch dies und das"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2013], ISBN 978-0-857-42100-5. The blue soda siphon ("Der blaue Siphon"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2014], ISBN 978-0-857-42211-8. In the Congo ("Im Kongo"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2015], ISBN 978-0-857-42315-3. Mr Adamson ("Herr Adamson"). Tr. Donal McLaughlin, London, Seagull Books [2015], ISBN 978-0-857-42232-3.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1938
Urs Widmer born at Basel.
2014
Urs Widmer died at Zurich.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Basel.
Birth place
Zurich.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Widmer, Urs, Das Paradies des Vergessens: Erzählung: Zürich, 1990, 2023
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2023
- Widmer, Urs, Der blaue Siphon: Erzählung: Zürich, 1992, 2023
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2023
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q123825: Urs Widmer
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Urs Widmer”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards and honors
1977 Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden, Fernsehabend 1992 Preis der SWR-Bestenliste 1997 Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis, Top Dogs 1998 Heimito von Doderer Prize 2001 Bertolt Brecht Literature Prize 2002 Großer Literaturpreis der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste 2013 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize

Unterschrift von Urs Widmer in einem Brief an den Suhrkamp-Verlag vom 25. September 1968
Fridolin freudenfett
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 Urs Widmer, revision 1324133231 (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.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
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References
Citations
References
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scholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Widmer, Urs, Der blaue Siphon: Erzählung: Zürich, 1992, 2023Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q123825: Urs WidmerWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- University of BaselOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
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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