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Writer Peter Waterhouse, who was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize in 2012, is described as "uncompromising, poetic and by nature inquisitive" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), and as a "child of heaven haunted by the art of precision" (Friederike Mayrocker). Waterhouse spent several years working on his new novel "Die Auswandernden" ("The Emigrants") and, as circumstances dictated, it is not only a great work of linguistic art, but also of impressive topical
relevance. The book tells the story of Media, who has fled from a Caucasian village to Austria, of her struggles with the foreign language, the abysmal depths of an asylum process, of absurd-seeming interrogations, protocols, and decisions, and Kafkaesque authorities and courts. At the same time, it is a novel about the author's love for people on the fringes of society, and of course also about his love of language, of words, and the sounds of words, of shifts and expansions of meaning. Furthermore, this book documents the congenial collaboration between Peter Waterhouse and illustrator Nanne Meyer: text and images combine in an intriguing and bewildering way and heighten the senses through which we perceive our world - a world that is as precious as it is vulnerable.
About the author
Peter Waterhouse, geboren 1956 in Berlin, wuchs unter anderem in der Bundesrepublik und in Österreich auf. Nach dem Studium der Germanstik und Anglistik promovierte er 1984 mit einer Arbeit über Paul Celan. Er ist Schriftsteller und Übersetzer und lebt in Wien. 2007 wurde Peter Waterhouse mit dem "Erich-Fried-Preis" ausgezeichnet und 2011 mit dem "Nicolas-Born-Preis". 2012 erhielt er mit dem Großen Österreichischen Staatspreis die höchste Kunstauszeichnung Österreichs.
