Ingeborg Bachmann
Autorenfoto zu Ingeborg Bachmann

Ingeborg Bachmann

Ingeborg Bachmann was born on June 25, 1926 in Klagenfurt. She first rose to prominence as a poet after reading her work at a gathering of the legendary Gruppe 47. She went on to publish two collections of poetry, Die gestundete Zeit (1953) and Anrufung des Großen Bären (1956), along with numerous radio plays, essays, and short story collections. In 1971, she published her only completed novel, Malina. Bachmann passed away on 17 October 1973 in Rome.
 

Ingeborg Bachmann was born on June 25, 1926 in Klagenfurt. She first rose to prominence as a poet after reading her work at a gathering of the legendary Gruppe 47. She went on to publish two collections of poetry, Die gestundete Zeit (1953) and Anrufung des Großen Bären (1956), along with numerous radio plays, essays, and short story collections. In 1971, she published her only completed novel, Malina. Bachmann passed away on 17 October 1973 in Rome.
 

Awards (selection)
Anton Wildgans Prize 1971
Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature 1968
Büchner Prize 1964
Deutscher Kritikerpreis 1961
Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden 1959
Literaturpreis der Freien Hansestadt Bremen 1957
Literary Prize of the Gruppe 47 1953
Anton Wildgans Prize 1971
Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature 1968
Büchner Prize 1964
Deutscher Kritikerpreis 1961
Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden 1959
Literaturpreis der Freien Hansestadt Bremen 1957
Literary Prize of the Gruppe 47 1953
Praise
»The most intelligent and important woman writer our land has produced this century.« Thomas Bernhard

»A brillant intellectual« Heinrich Böll

»Bachmann’s voice is rare and strong – strong enough to transport us to a new domain of fiction.« Los Angeles Times
»The most intelligent and important woman writer our land has produced this century.« Thomas Bernhard

»A brillant intellectual« Heinrich Böll

»Bachmann’s voice is rare and strong – strong enough to transport us to a new domain of fiction.« Los Angeles Times

PUBLICATIONS

» What Are We Going to Do With Our Lives?«
Year of Publication: 2025
Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich BöllYear of Publication: 2025
A young poet, who presented her work to the Gruppe 47 for the first time in 1952, and a man nine years her senior, already an established writer. In their letters, Ingeborg Bachmann and Heinrich Böll talk about politics and literature, religion and travel, and time ang again, about the material prerequisites of writing: money and a roof over their heads. Over many years, they read each other’s...
»Senza casa«
Year of Publication: 2024
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2024
Autobiographical essays, a ›war diary‹ and previously unpublished autobiographical material, along with the ›Neapolitan Diary‹ from Bachmann’s heady days as a freelance writer. Gathered together for the first time in this new volume of the Salzburger Bachmann Edition, these texts offer new insights into the life of this remarkable author. Questioning and correcting stereotypical images of...
»We Didn’t Do Well« – The Bachmann Frisch Correspondence
Year of Publication: 2022
Ingeborg Bachmann, Max FrischYear of Publication: 2022

Spring 1958: Ingeborg Bachmann – celebrated poet, winner of Literary Prize of Gruppe 47 and cover star of Der Spiegel – is broadcasting the radio play Der gute Gott von...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Italy (Feltrinelli)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (speak low)

Invocation of Ursa Major
Year of Publication: 2022
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2022

The verses in Ingeborg Bachmann’s second collection of poetry, Invocation of Ursa Major (1956), caused a sensation when they were published and soon became canonised: they were immensely...

Rights sold to:

Italy (Adelphi)

The Thirtieth Year
Year of Publication: 2020
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2020

In 1956, at 30 years of age, Ingeborg Bachman began with the first drafts for the book, which is now to published in the Salzburger Bachmann Edition. It would take five years until all seven stories had been submitted to Piper Verlag ready for publication in the spring of 1961 and the first volume could be published in July that same year.


Of the writing phase the...

»Write down everything that is true«
Year of Publication: 2018

The hitherto unpublished and unknown correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Hans Magnus Enzensberger allows one to relive how, after the Second World War, two of the most prominent writers in the German language chose to depict and regard the world, literature and the publishing industry, but also how they wished to present and be regarded themselves.


One was...

Male Oscuro
Year of Publication: 2017
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2017

Ingeborg Bachmann’s dream notes, correspondence drafts and records from the time of her illness are of great literary interest as the primary elements of the subsequent Todesarten-texts. In addition, these writings are apt to further our knowledge about her illness and the phenomenon of illness itself. They are outrageous, courageous in their analytic approach, defeated...

The Book Goldmann
Year of Publication: 2017
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2017

The Book Goldmann is the name Ingeborg Bachmann gave to her great narrative project, which she cherished until the end. This edition renders the previously only fragmentarily...

Rights sold to:

Turkey (Can)
 

The Radio Familiy
Year of Publication: 2011
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2011
In autumn of the year 1952, a »chain-smoking mermaid with angel’s hair who more whispered than spoke« entered the radio play department of the American occupied forces Rot-Weiß-Rot...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Turkey (Can)

War Diary
Year of Publication: 2010
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 2010
The present volume for the first time compiles the war diary Ingeborg Bachmann kept from late summer 1944 to June 1945, as well as the surviving letters from Jack Hamesh – a unique document...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), France (Actes Sud), Italy (Adelphi), Poland (Czarne), Denmark (Grif), Czech Republic (Pulchra), Ukraine (Osnovy), Israel (Hakkibutz Hameuchad – Sifriyat Poalim)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Akal)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Audiobuch)

Herzzeit – The Bachmann–Celan Correspondence
Year of Publication: 2008
Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul CelanYear of Publication: 2008
»Books of this stature appear only every few decades.« Deutschlandradio


The correspondence from the period 1948-61 – a last letter penned by Celan...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Seagull), Portuguese rights (Antígona), Chinese simplex rights (China Renmin UP), Russia (Ad marginem), France (Seuil), Italy (Nottetempo), Netherlands (Meulenhoff), Denmark (Vandkunsten), Sweden (Ellerströms), Japan (Seidosha), Poland (A5), Czech Republic (Pulchra), Bulgaria (Panorama), Romania (Art), Turkey (Kirmizi Kedi), Ukraine (Knihy XXI), Georgia (Ibis)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Fondo Cultura), Croatia (OceanMore)

Malina
Year of Publication: 1971
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 1971

In Malina, originally published in German in 1971, Ingeborg Bachmann invites the reader into a world stretched to the very limits of language. An unnamed narrator, a writer in Vienna, is...

Rights sold to:

USA & Canada (New Directions), UK & Commonwealth (Penguin), Russia (AST), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Estaçao Liberdade), Portuguese rights (Antígona), France (Seuil), Italy (Adelphi), Netherlands (Koppernik), Denmark (Grif), Sweden (Ellerströms), Korea (Minumsa), Japan (Chikuma Shobo), Czech Republic (Opus), Serbia (Kontrast), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Potlatch), Albania (Aleph), Ukraine (Fabula), Georgia (Palitra L), Armenia (Antares), Azerbaijan (Alatoran)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Akal), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Norway (Bokvennen), Finland (Weilin & Göös), Poland (A5, Polish audio book: Mala Litera), Slovakia (Slovensky Spisovatel), Hungary (Jelenkor), Bulgaria (Na Otetschestwenia Front), Romania (Humanitas), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers Union), Slovenia (Pomuska Zalozba), Macedonia (Tri), Israel (Hakibutz Hameuchad / Sifriat Poalim)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg), German Audiobook (DAV), German Radio Play (HR2)

Deferred Time
Year of Publication: 1953
Ingeborg BachmannYear of Publication: 1953

For the young Ingeborg Bachmann and her generation, the great hope after the war soon proved deceptive. The themes in Bachmann's first volume of poetry, Deferred Time (1953), are representative of the experience that defines writing after 1945: Departure and farewell, guilt and memory. In the dramatic gestures and memorable images of her poetic language, this experience found a...


DISCOVER

News
17 October 2023 marks 50 years since the passing of Ingeborg Bachmann
News
Ingeborg Bachmann would have celebrated her 90th birthday on June 25, 2016.
News
01.07.2011
Herzzeit, the correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, has now been published in six languages.