born 1986 in Vienna, studied comparative literature and transcultural communication. She works in software development and runs literature workshops for children and young adults. Klar has been awarded numerous prizes and was a finalist in the FM4 competition Wortlaut (2013). Her acclaimed debut novel Wie im Wald was accorded the City of Vienna Sponsorship Award and was included in the Rauris Literary Prize 2015 shortlist. Her second novel, “Wasser atmen”, was published in 2017. Most recently published: “Wasser atmen” (2017) and “Heavenwards” (2020).
In Anemos, einer postapokalyptischen verstrahlten Stadt, hat sich eine prekär ausbalancierte Gemeinschaft aus Mischwesen und Mutant*innen gebildet – für das gemeinsame Überleben braucht es die Leuchtqualle Oberon, die die Wasserversorgung der Stadt sicherstellt, aber auch die geweihbewehrte Titania, die für die wilden Feste der Stadt sorgt. Doch eines Jahres endet das Fest Walpurgis mit Oberons Tod im Liebesspiel – und das kleine Schleimtierchen Müxerl muss Oberons Aufgaben übernehmen. Denn: Was du kaputt machst, musst du richten, so verlangt es das Gesetz von Anemos. Was, so fragt Elisabeth Klar, kommt nach dem Anthropozän? Und welche Gesetze kann sich eine Gesellschaft geben, um unter widrigen Umständen nicht nur zu überleben, sondern auch leben zu wollen?
Everyone senses it – the space for those who think differently, act differently and love differently is shrinking once more, the threat is increasing. But for now the 'Heaven Bound' still exists. Its glitzy stage is the home of the drag queens and a refuge for outsiders and night birds. Tucked out of sight, the bar is the only place where even Sylvia feels safe. As a young vixen on the run, Sylvia plucked a human skin from a clothes line and has lived as a woman among people ever since. She shares her live with Jonathan, a dreamer and self-professed world saviour. When a feathered tumour grows on Jonathan's back and his transformation begins, it becomes clear that not everything with wings can fly. But the utopia of the 'Heaven Bound' will always be worth fighting for.
Spending a year in Antarctica and enduring the polar night in a research station takes stamina and determination. That is what Erika appears to have: a renowned bioacoustics specialist, she listens to whales, goes on long dives and challenges herself by practising aikido. Barely anyone knows that she does all of this in order to fight back a paralysing fear, the fear of a world that threatens to overwhelm her. Then musicologist Judith, a young woman full of contradictions, appears in her circle of friends. As the two women grow close, Erika suspects that Judith has given in to the same force that Erika is battling against. Perhaps she went crazy, or then again, perhaps she found a counter-spell and saved herself...
Karin lives with her boyfriend Alexander in a house by the woods. Her foster-sister Lisa once lived there too, along with her parents August and Inge, sister Margarethe and brother Peter. Back then Karin and Lisa were happy; they grew as fast as the brambles, dived to the bottom of the lake hand in hand, and hid in the tiny caves formed by tree roots. Then something happened; August died and the foster child was banished. Years later Karin fetches Lisa back, and the two women become entangled in a game as destructive as it is seductive, sucked into a whirlpool of addiction, attraction and repulsion which holds us enthralled till the final page.
