Biography

Alida Bremer, Dr. phil., born 1959 in Split/Croatia. Studied Comparative Literature, Romance Studies, Slavonic Studies and German Studies in Belgrade/Serbia, Rome/Italy, Münster and Saarbrücken/Germany. Doctorate in Comparative Literature at the University of Saarbrücken. Freelance author and translator. Lives in Münster.

Research, Teaching, Lectures and Moderation

1987 – 2003 Research associate and lecturer at the universities of Münster and Gießen; main areas of work: Literary and cultural theories, narrative research, women's and gender studies, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian literature - research projects, lectures, exhibitions, articles, essays and other texts on these topics in Germany and in Croatia
Since 1991 until today Numerous lectures on literary, political and culturological topics at various universities, in literature houses, at the book fairs in Frankfurt and in Leipzig, at state, church and other institutions of cultural and political education in Germany and in Croatia
Since 2013 today Mentor at the Summer College (Literarisches Übersetzen) Literary Translation on Premuda Island
as well as numerous moderations at international readings, book fairs and conferences in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia and Serbia

Curator (Selection)

2008 "Croatia as a focus country at the Leipzig Book Fair"
2009 – 2014 "Focus on Southeast Europe" at the Leipzig Book Fair
„Kroatien Kreativ 2013“: Year-round festival under the patronage of Minister of State for Culture and Media Bernd Neumann on the occasion of Croatia's accession to the EU
2011 Festival "Literature in Autumn", Vienna (focus on "Yugoslavia Revistited")
2012 Festival "Literature in Autumn", Vienna (focus "Mare Nostrum")
2012 Festival "Baklava" on behalf of the Cultural Center of the Minorites in Graz
2011 For the Goethe-Institut Belgrade: exchange between Serbian and German authors: correspondences, readings
2012 For the Goethe-Institut Budapest: exchange between Hungarian and German authors: joint blogs, readings
2000 – 2015 Curator of the appearances of Croatian authors at the book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig
2008 – 2014 Head of the Traduki network on behalf of the S. Fischer Foundation
Since 2015 Together with Jeton Neziraj and Saša Ilić curator of the International Literature Festival "Polip" in Prishtina/Kosovo

Jury member

2008 - 2015 Writer-in-Residence program of the city of Split
2008 – 2012 T-Portal jury for the best novel: the highest endowed literary prize in Croatia
2011 Jury for the essay competition of the Cultural Center of the Minorites, Graz, on the theme "1 + 1 + 1 = 1 Trinity"
Since 2013 Jury for the Leipzig Prize for European Understanding
2015 Jury for the Spurensuche scholarship program for authors and publicists - offered by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Literaturhaus Berlin and by Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller
2015 Peter Weiss Prize of the City of Bochum

Scholarships and awards

1983 – 1985 Scholarship of the Institute for Literature and Art in Belgrade / Serbia
1985 – 1986 Scholarship of the Italian government for the research of contemporary Italian literature at the Roman University La sapienza
2008 – 2009 "Grenzgänger" scholarship of the Robert Bosch Foundation for work on the novel Olivas Garten
2010 Residency grant of the International House of Authors Graz
2011 Scholarship from the German Translator's Fund for work on the novel Der Aufstand der Ungenießbaren by Edo Popović (Luchterhand, 2012)
2016 Participation in the Dutch-Flemish project Citybooks in the context of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016 (Citybook Münster)
2016 Residency grant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Translators' College of North Rhine-Westphalia in Straelen
2017 Nominated for the Alfred Döblin Prize
2018 International Literature Prize - House of World Cultures for the translation from Croatian of Liebesroman, together with the author Ivana Sajko
2018 German Translator's Fund working scholarship for work on Edo Popović's novel Mondmeridian
2018 Brücke Berlin Theater Prize for the translation from Serbian of the play Daumenregeln, together with the author Iva Brdar
2018 German Youth Theater Prize for the translation from Croatian of the play Der vorletzte Panda oder Die Statik, together with the author Dino Pešut
2019 German Translator's Fund working grant for work on the novel Familienroman by Ivana Sajko
2019 Perewest Fellowship for work on the poetry collection by Marko Pogačar Land, Land (Edition Korrespondenzen 2022)
2019 Poet in Residence at the University of Duisburg-Essen
2020 German Translator Fund working fellowship for work on the short story collection Mars by Asja Bakić
2020 Barthold-Heinrich-Brockes Fellowship of the German Translator Fund
2021 German Translator Fund working scholarship for work on the novel Jeder Aufbruch ist ein kleiner Tod by Ivana Sajko
2021 Special scholarship INITIAL of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
2023 The German Translator Fund's working grant for work on the novel Abtrünniger vor Inselpanorama by Edi Matić
Awarded the honorary pin of the city of Münster for voluntary commitment to the care of war refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovinat
Awarded the State Order of the Republic of Croatia for services to Croatian culture

Memberships

Member of the VdÜ (Association of German-Language Translators of Literary and Scientific Works)
Member of the Croatian PEN Center
Member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian PEN Center
Member of the PEN Berlin
Vice-chairman of the German Society for Croatian Studies
Member of the advisory board of the Literaturverein Münster e.V.

Interpretation and Translation

Since 1991 Interpreting and translating for numerous institutions and organizations, for radio and television