Memorial Page for Urs Widmer

Urs Widmer (born 21 May 1938 in Basel; died 2 April 2014 in Zurich) was a Swiss writer, playwright, storyteller, essayist and radio-play author. He wrote in German and moved between prose, theatre, satire, family narrative and reflections on writing.

Basel, studies and publishing

Widmer grew up in a literary household; his father Walter Widmer was a critic and translator. Urs Widmer studied German literature, Romance studies and history in Basel, Montpellier and Paris. In 1966 he completed a doctorate on German post-war prose. He then worked as an editor, first at Walter Verlag in Olten and later at Suhrkamp in Frankfurt am Main.

Frankfurt and his own path

In 1968 Widmer was among the co-founders of Verlag der Autoren. In the same year his story Alois appeared. In Frankfurt he wrote as an independent author, worked for newspapers and taught contemporary German literature. In 1984 he returned to Switzerland and lived in Zurich.

Prose and theatre

Widmer's texts connect everyday observation, comedy, language play and darker spaces of memory. His widely read works include Der blaue Siphon, Der Geliebte der Mutter, Das Buch des Vaters and Ein Leben als Zwerg. With the play Top Dogs he also reached a broad theatre audience and received the Mülheim Dramatists' Prize in 1997.

Late books and awards

In his later books, origin, parents, memory and writing itself moved more strongly into the foreground. Reise an den Rand des Universums appeared in 2013 and received a Swiss Literature Award in 2014. His other awards included the Bertolt Brecht Literature Prize, the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize and the Jakob Wassermann Prize.

Farewell

Urs Widmer died in Zurich on 2 April 2014 after a long illness. He was 75 years old. His books and plays connect serious memory, comedy and precise formal work.