Slata Roschal

Slata Roschal is not only a multi-award-winning author and well-liked in the arts pages, but also works as a critic, translator from Russian, and editor. Her debut novel, 153 Formen des Nichtseins (153 Forms of Non-Existence), which deals with identity, migration, outsider status, femininity, and the question of being, was nominated for the German Book Prize in 2022.

Most recently:
Poetry collection Ich brauche einen Waffenschein ein neues bitteres Parfüm ein Haus in dem mich keiner kennt (I Need a Gun License, a New Bitter Perfume, a House Where No One Knows Me) published by Wunderhorn Heidelberg (March 2025). Awarded the Feldkirch Poetry Prize, a literature scholarship from the City of Munich, a working scholarship from the German Literature Fund, and shortlisted for the Munich Poetry Prize.

Other scholarships and awards:
August–September 2025: Residency scholarship in the artists’ village of Schöppingen May–July 2025: Residency scholarship at the Heinrich Heine House in Lüneburg October–December 2024: Residency scholarship at the Writers’ House in Stuttgart May 2024: Poetry lectures at the German Studies Department of LMU Munich

Jury’s reasoning:

“Slata Roschal is not only the author of three poetry collections and two novels, which have won her numerous awards and made her a favorite of the arts pages (her latest poetry collection, Ich brauche einen Waffenschein ein neues bitteres Parfüm ein Haus in dem mich keiner kennt [I need a gun license, a new bitter perfume, a house where no one knows me], was published in March 2025 and has already won the Feldkirch Poetry Prize, the City of Munich Literature Scholarship, the German Literature Fund’s working scholarship, and an entry on the shortlist for the Munich Poetry Prize), but also as a critic, translator from Russian, and editor.

Her particular strength as a poet lies in maintaining an elegant balance between ruthless, laconic speech and poetic inspiration, or in recreating this balance again and again in a dance-like manner. Roschal is currently working on a novel project about a dead author in a hotel room, which in terms of its structure encompasses both: an intertextual play with internal literary aesthetic problems and, seriously, a picture of parallel, untouched lives in the almost invisible worlds of an increasingly stratified class society.

We believe that Slata Roschal will enrich literary life in Graz as a city writer, in her capacity as a reciter of her own texts, as a participant in artistic discourse, and as a networker. We also believe that Graz has plenty to offer that will be useful to her and her equilibristic poetry.”

Publications include:
Wir verzichten auf das gelobte Land (We Renounce the Promised Land). Poetry (Reinecke & Voß 2019)
Wir tauschen Ansichten und Ängste aus wie weiche warme Tiere (We Exchange Views and Fears Like Soft Warm Animals). Poetry (hochroth 2021)
153 Formen des Nichtseins (153 Forms of Non-Existence). Novel (homunculus 2022, Penguin 2024)
Ich möchte Wein trinken und auf das Ende der Welt warten (I Want to Drink Wine and Wait for the End of the World). Novel (Ullstein/claassen 2024)
Ich brauche einen Waffenschein ein neues bitteres Parfüm ein Haus in dem mich keiner kennt (I Need a Gun License, a New Bitter Perfume, a House Where No One Knows Me). Poetry (Wunderhorn 2025)

Note: Translated using software.