Alexander Peer – Austrian poet

Born in 1971 in Salzburg, Austria, Alexander Peer studied Philology, Philosophy, and Journalism at the University of Vienna. Now a poet and writer based in Vienna, he is also a regular contributor to Austrian newspapers.

His work includes books such as the travel guide 111 Orte im Pinzgau, die man gesehen haben muss ('111 Places in Pinzgau That You Shouldn't Miss'), Emons Verlag 2022; poetry in Gin zu Ende, achtzehn Uhr ('Gin to finish, six o’clock'), Limbus Verlag 2021; editor of Schreibende Nomaden entdecken Europa: Impressionen und Essays ('Literary Nomads Discover Europe: Impressions and Essays'), Limbus Verlag 2019; poetry in Der Klang der stummen Verhältnisse ('The Sound of Silent Conditions'), Limbus Verlag 2017; the novel Bis dass der Tod uns meidet ('Till Death Us Do Shun'), Limbus Verlag 2013; the novella Land unter ihnen ('Land Beneath Them'), Limbus Verlag 2011; travel writing in Ostseeatem ('Breath of the Baltic Sea'), Wieser Verlag 2008; and the life of Leo Perutz in Herr, erbarme dich meiner! ('Lord, have mercy on me!'), Edition ArtScience 2007 – as well as numerous essays and articles on literature, philosophy and architecture. 

As well as being the recipient of numerous awards (including the ÖZV News Award in the category Science in 2016), Alexander Peer has been a writer-in-residence several times, including for the city of Schwaz in Tirol in 2011, Schloss Wiepersdorf in 2017, and at Hawthornden in 2019. For the article on novelist Leo Perutz ‘A Literary Mirror of Vienna’, which appeared in the Wiener Zeitung, he was nominated for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Michael Althen Prize for Criticism 2022.