Peter Bichsel was born in Lucerne in 1935, the son of a craftsman. He trained to be a teacher and taught in a primary school until 1968 (and one last time in 1973). In 1964 he became famous overnight with his first collection of short stories; he was enthusiastically received by Group 47, the German association of authors led by Hans Werner Richter, and awarded the Group 47 Prize in 1965. Since 1985 he has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and a corresponding member of the German Academy for Language and Literature in Darmstadt. Bichsel lives in Bellach in the canton of Solothurn. He has won several awards for his work, including the Great Schiller Prize and the Gottfried Keller Prize. He is the author of a number of collections of short stories and journalism.
