Anja Bachl is Georg Trakl Award Winner

03.11.2021

The 35-year-old Salzburg native is the recipient of the state's 5,000-euro grant, which is awarded every two years. Tonight she will read from her work.

For her "poetic spaces of possibility for individual thoughts and observations," Anja Bachl receives this year's Georg Trakl Promotion Prize. The 35-year-old Salzburg native receives the state's 5,000-euro grant, which is awarded every two years.

The prize is aimed specifically at poets who have a biographical connection to Salzburg. "With this, we support literary creators and express recognition for their works. In addition, the award should also be a motivation and encouragement to continue on this path," emphasizes Deputy Governor Heinrich Schellhorn.

Appreciation for poetry

The jury, consisting of Thomas Assinger, Verena Stauffer and Magdalena Stieb, unanimously chose Anja Bachl's texts from 29 anonymous submissions. "To receive the Förderpreis für Lyrik is a joy of appreciation for poetry and also an honor to see myself in the ranks of great poets. This recognition will serve as an updraft to my writing sails," said the laureate.

Tenderness and resistance

Anja Bachl works the theme of her poems, 'to soften is / to make tenderness and resistance at the same time,' in a series of six-liners. "While this reduced form refers to convention and tradition in verse meter, it does not stop there. Unexpected repetitions and reflections in content and form connect the individual poems into a cycle without forcing this master genre of poetry. The design of language never becomes an end in itself. Anja Bachl allows options for the development of tenderness and resistance to emerge in her poems between ego and world. She offers all those who engage with her poems new literary perspectives on life and its shaping," reads an excerpt from the jury's statement.

Reading in the Orchesterhaus Nonntal

Anja Bachl was born in 1986 in Salzburg. After graduating from the Musisches Gymnasium, she studied Holistic Art Therapy at AKT Vienna. She works as a holistic art therapist, artist and freelance writer. She is the mother of a 14-year-old boy. This year she was awarded the Irma von Troll Borostyáni Prize for her journalistic texts. Today, 7:30 p.m., she will give a reading at the Kulturvereinigung's Trakl concert at the Orchesterhaus Nonntal in Salzburg. Today is also the anniversary of the death of the poet Georg Trakl, who was born in Salzburg and died at the age of only 27. LK_211103_51 (grs/bk)

Media inquiries: Johanna Paulus-Jenner, office of LH-Stv. Heinrich Schellhorn, Tel.: +43 662 8042-4841, Mobil: +43 664 8565718, E-Mail: johanna.paulus-jenner@salzburg.gv.at

Editorial office: Landes-Medienzentrum