new artistic director of the vienna poetry school!

press release from 16 november 2023

vienna poetry school

nicolas mahler becomes the new artistic director of the vienna poetry school 

once again no "proper" poet, once again no "trained" literary mediator: the vienna poetry school remains true to its principle of "unconventional directorship". radio producer and musician fritz ostermayer, who took over as artistic director of the sfd in 2012 following the sudden death of sfd initiator and co-founder christian ide hintze, will be succeeded at the beginning of 2024 by another lateral entrant to the teaching of poetry, the renowned cartoonist nicolas mahler.
mahler's literary adaptations in comic form published by suhrkamp – from musil to bernhard, from kafka to joyce – testify to his love of the modern classics, while his close relationship to contemporary literary biotopes shows him to be a connoisseur of current poetry. the viennese publisher luftschacht has published several of his volumes of poetry, and his books have been translated into 10 languages.
"mahler's choice may seem 'weird', but the weirdness is accompanied by a blazing heart for poetry and experimentation. that is and was decisive." (fritz ostermayer, still artistic director of the sfd, and harriet nachtmann, organisational and commercial director of the sfd)
fritz ostermayer – soon to be 68 – is looking forward to his semi-retirement and will remain connected to sfd. as a part-time teacher and senior student.
the handover of the 2024 season will be seamless, a detailed presentation of the new artistic director nicolas mahler and his programme will be made in march.

nicolas mahler
*1969, lives and works as a comics author and poet in vienna. his comics and cartoons have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as nzz, faz, zeit, le monde and titanic.
current books: thomas bernhard. die unkorrekte biografie (suhrkamp 2021), thomas bernhard's salzburg (residenz 2022), akira kurosawa und der meditierende frosch (reprodukt 2023) (among others). to be published on 20 november 2023: kafka für boshafte (insel taschenbuch/suhrkamp) and komplett kafka. eine comic-biografie (suhrkamp).
for additional info go to >> www.mahlermuseum.com

 
self portrait (c) nicolas mahler