Monique Schwitter

Monique Schwitter (born 2 March 1972) is a Swiss writer and actress.

Life and career

Schwitter was born in Zürich, Switzerland. She studied stage direction and theater at the Mozarteum Salzburg from 1993 to 1997. Throughout that period, she was a reciter, a dubbing actor and directed and produced several literary features about Peter Handke, Ernst Jandl, Raymond Queneau, and Sarah Kane. At the Deutsche Schauspielhaus she curated a literary salon and performed as a blues singer. In her acting career, she regularly was part of numerous theater festivals, such as Mülheimer Theatertagen (1999), "Reich und Berühmt" in Berlin (2001), "Theater der Welt" in Stuttgart (2005), Vienna Festival (2006), Salzburg Festival (2006), "Theaterformen" in Hannover (2007) and Berliner Theatertreffen (2008).

Starting 2002, she contributed prose and short stories in various literary magazines. After the editor Alfred Kolleritsch had become interested in her work, she published much of her early work in the Austrian literary magazine Manuskripte. Her first collection of short stories, Wenn's schneit beim Krokodil, was published in 2005 and was awarded the Robert-Walser Preis (2006) Her novel Eins im Andern was short listed for the German Book Prize and received the Swiss Book Prize (. The novel is about a forty-year-old woman who during a random google search discovers that her first love had committed suicide many years ago. Learning this, she recounts the biography of her love life by telling the story of twelve previous lovers. In 2016, it was awarded the Swiss Literary Prize .

Her work has been translated into several languages, including French, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Polish, and English.

Schwitter lives in Hamburg with her family since 2005.

After being a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg since 2012, she was elected president in 2021.

Published works Wenn's schneit beim Krokodil. Short Stories. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2005. Ohren haben keine Lider. Novel. Residenz, Salzburg 2008. Himmels-W. Theater piece 2008. Goldfischgedächtnis. Short Stories. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2011. Goldfish Memory Cardigan: Parthian 2015 Eins im Andern. Novel. Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz 2015.

Awards 2001: Nestroy-Nomination, best young actor for the role of Mariedl in Die Präsidentinnen by Werner Schwab 2003: Nestroy-Nomination, best young actor for performing Janis Joplin and Marie in Woyzeck by Georg Büchner 2004: Hermann-Lenz-Stipendium 2005: Prize of the Marianne und Curt Dienemann-Stiftung 2006: for Wenn’s schneit beim Krokodil 2006: Förderpreis of the 2011: 2012: Aufenthalts-Stipendium der Sparte Literatur im Künstlerhaus Lauenburg 2013: 2015: Swiss Book Prize, for Eins im Andern 2016: Stipendium of the in Lüneburg 2016: Swiss Literature Awards