Tanja Paar

was born in Graz. She studied German, History and Philosophy and later worked in the theatre, as a journalist, and as a presenter, among other things. In 2015 she graduated from the Leonding Academy of Literature. She currently lives in Vienna, working as a freelance writer. Her debut novel, Die Unversehrten, was published in 2018. It was followed in 2020 by Die zitternde Welt, published in English in 2025 as The Trembling World. In 2021 she was awarded the Robert Gernhardt Prize. For her work on In Semmering, she won the Elias Canetti Grant from the city of Vienna, and she also took part in a novel-writing workshop in 2024 at the Literaturforum at the Brecht House in Berlin.

all events

Tanja Paar - In Semmering

For railway worker Bertl and his wife Klara, Semmering represents a step up: his promotion to stationmaster includes a little house with a garden, no small thing at a time when Austria is in an economic crisis and unemployment is rife. Writing with verve and a passion for detail, Tanja Paar takes us behind the scenes of this elegant summer resort, exploring the lives of maids and woodcutters, smallholders and wealthy farmers, of Postmistress Negrelli and of Rahel, who cooks kosher meals for the Jewish guests. Political tensions slowly ratchet up—even here, in this peaceful spa town far from the capital of Vienna—and when the Nazis seize power in 1938, the idyll is finally shattered for good. Will Klara be able to save her friend Rahel from deportation?

Tanja Paar

Books

Tanja Paar - In Semmering