Biography
In her apartment in Basel's old town, wearing earplugs to block out the noise of the trams and with sheaves of writing paper at her side, she achieved something momentous: writing by hand, she composed a 134-page novel that has become the talk of Swiss literary circles.
NEW YORK TIMES
Zoë Jenny was born in 1974 in Basel, Switzerland and spent parts of her childhood in Greece and Ticino. Her first novel, The Pollen Room (1997), won her global critical acclaim and is the all-time best-selling debut novel by a Swiss author. Translated into 27 languages, the novel propelled her across the globe for readings and talks in schools and universities as far away as Japan, China and the USA. She lived in New York and Berlin and in 2004 settled in London, where she now lives with her husband and daughter.
Zoë has since published several highly acclaimed novels: Der Ruf des Muschelhorns (2000), Ein schnelles Leben (2002), Das Portrait (2007), a children’s book: Mittelpünktchens Reise um die Welt (2001), and various collections of short stories. The Sky is Changing is Zoë‘s first novel written in English - seeing her become one of the first authors to write and publish novels in different languages in original form.
Recent activity & announcements
Zoe Jenny at Solothurn Writer’s Festival on 5th June Read more
18th May 2011
Awards
- 1997
- Aspekte literature prize for best Debut
- 1997
- 3Sat scholarship at the Ingeborg Bachmann reading competition in Klagenfurt, Austria
- 1998
- Jürgen-Ponto-Foundation literature prize
- 2002
- Swiss short story prize for "Auf der Heimfahrt" voted for by the public
