Zora del Buono
Switzerland
Born in Zurich in 1962, Zora del Buono is one of the most vibrant personalities of the Swiss literary scene. After completing her architectural studies, she worked as a construction site manager in post-unification Berlin, wrote about queerness before this word had been invented, and serves as the arts editor and co-founder of the journal mare. Del Buono lives in Berlin. Along with novels, she also writes travel books and journalism.
In her most recent novel Seinetwegen (For His Sake), which won the 2024 Swiss Book Prize, Zora del Buono mines her rich family history as she did in her novel Die Marschallin (The Field Marshal’s Wife). When she was less than a year old, her southern Italian father died in an automobile accident. The family never spoke about the accident and rarely about her father; young Zora experienced him only in the form of her mother’s protracted grieving. Sixty years later, her mother is suffering from dementia and del Buono goes in search of the one who caused the accident and explores what loss, silence and guilt do to people. Seinetwegen is an internal and external documentation and reflection of this research. Despite the difficult subject and the directness of del Buono’s approach and narrative, it is a redemptive, even cheerful book. Most importantly, it is magnificently written.
Seinetwegen. Novel. C. H. Beck 2024
Die Marschallin. Novel. C. H. Beck 2020
Hinter Büschen, an eine Hauswand gelehnt. Novel. C. H. Beck 2016
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