Spring 2020 Max Kade Writer-in-Residence
Dr. Judith Nika Pfeifer
Vienna, Austria
Max Kade Writer-in-Residence, Spring 2020
Nika Pfeifer is a novelist, poet and transmedia artist. She studied Political Science and Communications in Vienna and as a Visiting Postgraduate Student in Lancaster, UK and at the University of Edinburgh. In 2017 she earned an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of Vienna, where she held a pre-doc position as a DOC-team research fellow from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Prior to her PhD research, she studied at the Universities of Vienna and Pavia, Italy to receive her MA in Political Science, Communications and Contemporary History.
Pfeifer’s texts appear in literary magazines and anthologies, such as “kolik,” “Literatur und Kritik,” “the gap,” and “Lichtungen.” She performs at poetry festivals and experiments with transmedia art projects in Vienna, Berlin, Edinburgh, Helsinki, and Munich and enjoys working together with other artists.
Books published in German: Violante (2017). manchmal passiert auch minutenlang gar nichts / sometimes nothing really happens, really (2015). between. Prose (2015). zwischen. Prosa (2014). nichts ist wichtiger. ding kleines du / nothing is more important. thing little you (2012).
Nika Pfeifer’s most recent book Violante is based on the true story of an honor killing that took place in 1559, written as a furious crossover of the great opera and Quentin Tarantino’s bloody cinema thrillers. Literature that is both literary and airy at the same time, unbiased present, nonchalantly historical. Sparkling prose peppered with references.
Herbert J. Wimmer
Violante was awarded the Österreichische Buchprämie 2017. zwischen, her critically acclaimed collection of short stories, was awarded the Österreichische Buchprämie 2014 by the Federal Chancellory of Austria. sometimes nothing really happens, really received the Buchprämie in 2015. Other prizes, invitations, and awards: 2017 Max Kade Writer-in-Residence, Easton, PA. Writer-in-Residence, Paliano, Italy, 2016. Villa Waldberta Residency, Munich, 2015. Writer-in-Residence of the City Ptuj, Slovenia 2015. seestadt aspern 2014. Artist Residency Schloss Wiepersdorf, Germany, 2014. Reinhard-Priessnitz-Prize 2012.
Nika Pfeifer’s poems have been translated into English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Malayam, French, Italian, Slovenian, Serbian, Polish, and Belarusian.