If Alfred Kolleritsch was initially known as a catalyst of contemporary Austrian literature, he has since become one of its leading practitioners. His organizational and editorial accomplishments are truly remarkable, and his name has become virtually synonymous with Graz, the Forum Stadtpark, and the journal manuskripte. These activities delayed the publication of his own literary work, which began to appear in the 1970s, although some of it had originated ten years earlier. He has received many awards, including the Styrian Literature Prize in 1976 and the Petrarca Prize in 1978, confirming his status as a leading avant-garde writer.

Kolleritsch was born on 16 February 1931 in Brunnsee, in a southern, rural part of Styria. His father was a forester at a castle, a setting that figures prominently in Kolleritsch's first novel. He studied philosophy, history, and German literature at the University of Graz and received his doctorate in 1964 with a dissertation titled...