Local news, 16.10.2015
During three days, October 14-16, the Embassy of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized the readings and discussions with Swiss novelist Catalin Dorian Florescu. These cultural events took place in three cities: Sarajevo, at the Goethe Institute; Banja Luka, at the Austrian Library; and in Tuzla within the Conference of German Language Teachers.
Catalin Dorian Florescu is an award-winning Swiss author with Romanian roots. Florescu presented his novels „Jacob decides to love“ and „Zaira“ to the audience in BiH. The readings were in German and a translation into the local language had been provided.
“Switzerland has become even more diverse thanks to the immigrants. With novels of Catalin Dorian Florescu we can enjoy the literary fruit of this development”, said Heinrich Maurer, Ambassador of Switzerland in BiH.
Catalin Dorian Florescu was born in Timisoara, Romania in 1967, where he spent his childhood and youth. He and his parents emigrated to Switzerland in 1982 where he obtained Swiss citizenship. Since then he lives in Zurich where he studied psychology and psychopathology and worked for several years as a psychotherapist in drug rehabilitation clinics.
After the publication of his first novel “Wunderzeit” in 2001, he abandoned his career as a psychotherapist and turned full-time writer. Previous works also include „Der kurze Weg nach Hause“ (2002); „Der blinde Masseur“ (2006) and „Zaira“ (2008). “Jacob decides to love” (2011) is his fifth novel.
He received several literary awards including the Josef von Eichendorff Prize for his complete literary works in 2012, the Swiss Book Award for “Jacob decides to love” in 2011, the Anna Seghers Prize for “Der Kurze Weg nach Hause” in 2002 and the Chamisso Förderpreis for “Wunderzeit” in 2001. Florescus novels have been translated into several languages.
