Ludwig Hartinger

Ludwig Hartinger was born in 1952 in Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer in Austria. The poet, translator into Slovenian and French, writer, editor, and publisher has been bringing Slovenian literature closer to the German speaking reader for more than two decades. He lives and works in Ljubljana, Salzburg, and the Karst region of Slovenia. His love for Slovenian sprung from the verses of Srečko Kosovel. He has been publishing the “RanitzDrucke” book series since 1995, and he also works as an editor for the Otto-Müller-Verlag publishing house as well as a co-editor of the Literatur und Kritik literary magazine. A smooth “word smuggler,” he publishes his essays in German and his poetry in Slovenian. His works include translations of Slovenian poetry into German, such as Im Schatten der Worte (In the Shadow of Words, 1998), Das Wasser spricht (Water speaks, 2000), translations of assorted poetry by Srečko Kosovel Mein Gedicht ist Karst (My Poem is Karst, 1994) and Mein Gedicht ist mein Gesicht (My Poem is my Face, 2004), a biography about the Austrian artist and publisher Christian Thanhäuser, Der LinienStifter (The Donor of Lines, 2005), and a book of poetry in Slovenian entitled Ostrina bilk (The Sharpness of the Straws, 2006). He and Aleš Berger have edited three monographs of previously unpublished works by Srečko Kosovel: Ikarjev sen (Icaruses Dream, 2004), Izbrana pisma (Selcted Letters, 2006) and Izbrana proza (Selected Prose, 2008). His intercultural endeavours have won him the Central-European-Initiative-Prize (2004) and the Pretnar Award (2004) for his contributions as an international ambassador of the Slovenian language and its literature.