German Language and Literatures

Nora Gomringer

Max Kade German Writer in Residence for Fall 2019

smiling face of Nora Gomringer in navy blouse.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Norma Gomringer

About Nora Gomringer

Oberlin’s German writer in residence is of Swiss and German descent and lives in Bamberg, where she is director of Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia. She was born in Neunkirchen/Saar, and grew up in the countryside of Upper Franconia.

After graduating from high school in Pennsylvania in 1998, she took her Abitur in Bamberg in 2000, where she went on to study German, English, and history of art.

She has been a published poet since 2000, and performs both readings and musical collaborations. Her work has spread to radio, TV, and the internet and she is a regular columnist in print and radio.

Her YouTube channel shows her works in film; her Facebook and Instagram accounts show the author as poeta activa in many situations and phases of work. 

She has been honored for her work with the Jacob Grimm Prize for German Language (2011) and the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize (2015), as well as numerous international residency scholarships.

Since 2016, Gomringer has performed regularly with jazz drummer Philipp Scholz, presenting the duo’s program Peng Peng Peng, and the Dorothy Parker homage Peng Peng Parker. Their shared paths led them to Japan, where they were able to take advantage of a three-month residence in 2016, and where Gomringer’s last volume of poetry MODEN (2017, Voland & Quist) was written.

All of her books—she has to date published nine volumes of poetry and two essays, as well as editing numerous works—are collaborations with esteemed visual artists and graphic artists. She is keen to actively cite her numerous translators, and is committed to fostering greater appreciation for this greatest of all arts.

Browse Gomringer's website