Alejandro Hagen and Mirja Lanz

Foto: Alejandro Hagen

Alejandro Hagen, a Germanist and Romanist (lic. phil. hist.), was born in 1974 in Barcelona and grew up in Basel and Leuk/VS. After studying at the Universities of Bern and Vienna, he began working as a parliamentary editor for the Federal Assembly. From 2001 to 2007, he served as project manager for the conception and establishment of the international literary award "Spycher: Literaturpreis Leuk." He was a member of the program committee for the Solothurn Literature Days from 2014 to 2017 and of the Rilke Festival in Sierre from 2016 to 2018. Since 2023, he has been a member of the literature and cultural commission of the city of Bern. His work spans from essayistic writing to (short) prose and poetry, with his areas of interest including autofiction, memory work, and nature writing. As a freelance editor, he is currently working with various German-speaking authors.

Foto: Gian Paul Lozza

Mirja Lanz, born in 1977 in Zurich, studied French, Philosophy, and Art History. She has written for artists, worked at the Chair for Romance Literatures of the Middle Ages at the University of Zurich (UZH), and serves as a Liaison Librarian for various languages at the Zurich Central Library. Her debut novel, Sie flogen nachts, was published in 2023 by Dörlemann Verlag. The interplay between humans and landscapes, as well as the mutual influence of nature experiences and language, play a significant role in her writing. Her current project is supported by a working grant from the City of Zurich.