Elfriede Jelinek

Elfriede Jelinek was born on October 20, 1946 in Mürzzuschlag, Styria, Austria. She is an Austrian playwright and novelist. Jelinek was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004.

Jelinek started writing poetry at a young age. She made her literary debut with the collection Lisas Schatten (Lisa's Shadow) in 1967 and received her first literary prize in 1969. Female sexuality, its abuse, and the battle of the sexes in general are prominent topics in her work. Her works include: Wir sind Lockvögel, Baby! (We are Decoys, Baby!), Die Liebhaberinnen (Women as Lovers) and Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Teacher). That last novel was the basis for the 2001 Austrian film of the same name, The Piano Teacher, directed by Michael Haneke and starring French actress Isabelle Huppert.

When awarded the Nobel prize in 2004, Jelinek was criticized for not accepting the prize in person; instead, a video message was presented at the ceremony. Jelinek revealed that she suffers from agoraphobia and social phobia, so she was more comfortable accepting via video.

Jelinek was also awarded many other prizes for her literature. These include: Georg Büchner Prize, 1998; Franz Kafka Prize, 2004; and the German Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis award three times, 2004, 2009 and 2011.

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