Interview with Anna Weidenholzer

December 15, 2015

Anna Weidenholzer was born in 1984 in Linz and lives in Vienna. She studied Comparative Literature in Vienna and Wroclaw, Poland. Weidenholzer has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies and has won many awards, including the Alfred Gesswein Prize (2009), the Residency Stipend at the Schloss Wiepersdorf (2011), the State Grant for Literature (2011/2012), and the Reinhard Priessnitz Prize (2013). In 2012, she was writer in residence in the city of Kitzbühel. Her debut novel Der Platz des Hundes (The Dog’s Place, 2010) was nominated for the European Festival of the Debut Novel in Kiel in 2011. Her second novel Der Winter tut den Fischen gut was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in fiction in 2013 and was featured at the New York Festival Neue Literatur in 2015. She currently is the Max Kade writer-in-residence at Deutsches Haus at NYU.

For information on Anna Weidenholzer's event on her story Island and her novel Winter is Good for Fish with translator Tess Lewis, please click here. She also participated in the events "Encounters Across the Ocean," "Money Changes Everything," and "A Literary Brunch" for the Festival Neue Literatur 2015.

1. What is your experience at Deutsches Haus at NYU so far?

My first time here was during this year’s “Festival Neue Literatur” in February. What a winter -  it had been extremely cold the days before, but the day we had our Literary Brunch at Deutsches Haus the weather changed. As if spring wanted to say “hello”, the ice was melting, people walked slower through the streets. But it wasn’t just for the weather that I associate a welcoming atmosphere with Deutsches Haus. I got the same impression this time and I’m very happy to be here again.

2. As you mentioned, you participated in this year’s “Festival Neue Literatur” in February.  How did you like it and how would you describe your experience as a contributor?

It was such a great experience. I really enjoyed being there and spending some days and nights with interesting writers, translators, and people from various cultural institutions here in New York.

3. Was FNL 2015 also your first time in New York? What has changed since your first New York visit?

Yes, it was my first stay in New York and it has only been ten months, so I can’t say much about how the city has changed. However, during my last visit I stayed in Brooklyn, so this time I’m in quite a different neighborhood. And I’ve got much more time. I don’t have this kind of feeling anymore, that I have to see and do everything at once, which overwhelmed me in the first days.

4. Do you have any particular plans or goals while you’re here in New York, in terms of your writing or as a traveler?

There is only one vague plan: to really be here, to experience and collect as much daily life as possible. I love exploring the city spontaneously by strolling along and I like the idea that I’m on an island and I could possibly walk from one end to the other, as long as I stay in Manhattan.

Besides exploring New York, I would love to visit Detroit for a few days.

5. What are you currently working on? And what are your plans for the future? Do you plan to return to the United States?

I just finished a short story, and now I’m writing an essay for an exhibition at the Literaturmuseum in Vienna. Afterwards I would love to start working on my next book.

Right now I don’t want to think about returning to the United States, because I don’t want to think about leaving; there are still some weeks to go. But I definitely plan to come back one day. I only know New York in winter, it must be fabulous in summer or spring.