Graz (January 28, 2024).- Writer Alfred Komarek died yesterday at the age of 78. The author, born in Bad Aussee in 1945, was awarded the “Great Josef Krainer Prize” in 2017.
Governor Christopher Drexler, cultural officer for the Styrian state government, mourns Alfred Komarek and pays tribute to his life’s work: “Alfred Komarek managed to make a virtue out of the proverbial necessity when he started writing. He developed into a cultural author and created numerous well-known books in which he proved himself to be a novelist and literary companion through Austrian and European cultural landscapes. His birthplace has shaped him as a book author and thus the stories, characters and circumstances. Alfred Komarek wasn’t someone who thought in categories and didn’t want to be classified into them himself. His unforgettable works will endure and continue to be widely recognized even after his death. My sincerest condolences go out to the entire bereaved family.”
The writer, born in Bad Aussee in 1945, began studying law after high school and began writing as a young student because he urgently needed money: glosses and reports for newspapers, but soon also texts for the radio. Alfred Komarek’s Daniel Käfer crime novels and, above all, his “Polt” novels are particularly well-known, the series of which began with the first crime novel “Polt must cry.” This book was awarded the “Glauser” as the best German-language crime novel of 1998, among others. He was an advocate of tolerance, also received the Austrian Book Trade’s Tolerance Prize in 2011, and even then warned against “calculating agitators” and “mercilessly tactic sneers”.
Graz, January 28, 2024