2005
37th Max Kade Writer-in-Residence

Mariella Mehr

Mariella Mehr was born in 1947 in Switzerland and is of Roma background. Characteristic of many minority and especially women minority writers, she began her literary career late. At age 28 she became a journalist and then gradually began writing and publishing literary works of her own. Today she is the author of many volumes of poetry, plays, and novels.

Prose works:
Angeklagt, novel (2002)
Brandzauber, novel (1998)
Daskind, novel (1995)
Zeus oder der Zwillingston, novel (1994)
Rückblitze. Texte 1982 – 90 (1990)
Das Licht der Frau. Ein Bericht (1984)
Steinzeit, novel (1981)

Poetry:
Das Sternbild des Wolfes (2003)
Widerwelten(1998)
Nachrichten aus dem Exil (1998)
in diesen traum schlendert ein roter findling (1983)

Plays:
Anni B. oder die fünf Gesänge der Not. Eine Groteske (1989)
Silvia Z. Ein Requiem (1986)
Kinder der Landstrasse. Ein Hilfswerk, ein Theater und die Folgen (1987)

She is also the recipient of many prizes, including: 1981 Literaturpreis des Kantons Zürich for Steinzeit; 1981 Förderungspreis des Kantons Bern for Steinzeit;
1983 Literaturpreis der Stadt Bern for in diesen traum...; 1987 Literaturpreis der Stadt Bern für Kinder der Landstrasse; 1988 „Ida Somazzi-Preis“ der Ida Somazzi-Stiftung Basel (Gesamtwerk); 1992 Anerkennungspreis des Kantons Graubünden (Gesamtwerk);
1995 Anerkennungspreis der Stadt Zürich (Gesamtwerk); 1996 Preis der Schillerstiftung for Daskind; 1996 Ehrenmedaille der Gemeinde Tomils (GR); 2002 Buchpreis des Kantons Bern for Angeklagt; 2002 Buchpreis der Stadt Bern for Angeklagt.
Additionally, the University of Basel awared her an honorary doctorate in 1998.

Mariella Mehr is a writer of great intensity and a uniquely stark, unsentimental but highly poetic language. Many of her works have children as protagonists, children caught in loveless, oppressive, and abusive circumstances, who see no other way than to resort to criminal acts as a way of survival. As a Roma/Swiss writer, she will bring new perspectives to our notions of how minority writers transform very painful personal experiences into compelling literary works of universal meaning.