Writer Helena Adler from Salzburg has died at the age of forty

Adler Health status This has already led to the cancellation of her scheduled participation in the 47th Bachmann Prize competition in Klagenfurt in July.

Adler was born Stefanie Helena Brahauser in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, in 1983 and grew up on a farm. In Salzburg she studied German, psychology, philosophy and drawing. Firstly Active as a visual artistShe later began publishing literary texts and was one of the founders of the LiLoLa (Literature Lobby Land) literary workshop. Not to be confused with her colleague Theresa Brauer, who also works as an author and artist, she chose the pseudonym Helena Adler.

Shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize

With two of her first three novels – with “Infanta wears her parting on the left” (2020) and “Freten” (2022) Adler was shortlisted for the 2022 Austrian Book Prize. In 2018, her debut novel Hertz 52 was published by the small publishing house Arovel Verlag. She received a prize of €10,000 for her work on her second novel published in 2020 (Jung und Jung Publishing). Annual scholarship from the State of Salzburg for Literature.

The novel “The Infanta Dresses on the Left” is devoted to this with great joy Young farmers and their survival strategies. The Austrian Book Prize jury said the book “follows the tradition of the Austrian anti-national novel, but finds a completely new tone that has never been heard or read before,” with Adler making it to the final round. There were also nominations for the German Book Prize (longlist) and the Independent Publishers Hotlist.

Two years later, “Fretten” was released, which took Adler not only to the top of the ORF best list but also to the final round of the Austrian Book Prize. The drama of coming of age and gaining independence is told, but it is less about the narrative and more about the implications and alliteration.

Contemporary Austrian literature has lost one of its most promising voices.