thesilkroadtoday
Hugo Ramnek is a writer (of poetry, prose and drama) and performer. He studied German and English literature at the Universities of Vienna and Dublin, and attended drama school in Zurich. He taught German literature at the bilingual Liceo Artistico di Zurigo.
Prizes for his literary work include the “Anerkennungsgabe der Stadt Zürich” for his novel Der letzte Badegast [The Last Bather](2010) as well as “Il Premio Letterario Internazionale Merano-Europa 2019” and the “Literarische Auszeichnung der Stadt Zürich 2020” for his novel Die Schneekugel [The Snow Globe](2020). His poetry has been awarded the “Erster Zürcher Lyrik-Preis 2012” and the “Heinz-Weder-Anerkennungspreis für Lyrik”, Bern 2013. In 2012 he was nominated for the “Ingeborg Bachmann Preis”. He has published two volumes of poetry: Meine Ge-Ge-Generation [My Ge-Ge-Generation](2017) and Die längste Nacht [The Longest Night]( (2022). His poetry readings are often performances with musicians and puppeteers. His Dadaist play Die Tomatensuppenschleuder [Spinning the Tomato soup] had its premiere in 2016 at sogar theater in Zurich.
He is currently working on a collection of short stories on train stations, both as editor and contributor (forthcoming this autumn).
Website: ramnek.ch
“Ich erröte vom Schaft bis zur Sohle – Schuhgeschichten”
A Literary Anthology Exploring Identity Through Shoes
March 2026 marks the publication of Ich erröte vom Schaft bis zur Sohle – Schuhgeschichten, a compelling new anthology that places shoes at the heart of storytelling. Far from serving as mere props, shoes become protagonists and pivotal forces within 30 original stories that explore memory, identity, and human experience.
Edited by Wolfram Schneider-Lastin and Christa Prameshuber, the collection brings together 30 distinguished authors from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Among the contributors are Katrin Seglitz, Martin Kunz, Barbara Traber, Sabine Bierich, Alice Grünfelder, Patricia Büttiker, Esther Banz, and Hugo Ramnek.
Through diverse literary voices, the anthology examines shoes as powerful symbols and metaphors—objects that carry personal histories, evoke emotional landscapes, and reflect the paths we walk in life.
Publication Details:
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 200
ISBN: 978-3-907238-52-3
Year: 2026Available from the publisher from March 2026.
Die Schneekugel – Ein Roman in Erzählungen
An Award-Winning Literary Work of Memory and Borders
Die Schneekugel is a remarkable novel in stories that weaves intimate family narratives with the sweeping forces of history. Set beneath the fragile dome of a snow globe, the border town, the Slovenian hill, and the Eisenpass come into view again and again as the narrator gently shakes the sphere, sending snow across Lower Carinthia and Upper Styria.
Within this shifting landscape unfolds the moving story of a small family in a bilingual region—caught between war, persecution, and the struggle of languages. The book reflects on belonging and identity, asking where family begins and where it ends when borders divide both land and memory.
The title story received the Premio letterario internazionale Merano-Europa 2019 and the Literarische Auszeichnung der Stadt Zürich 2020, affirming its powerful literary resonance.
Publication Details:
Format: Hardcover with ribbon marker
Pages: 127
ISBN: 978-3-99029-379-9
Year: 2020
Also available as an e-book.
Die längste Nacht – Elegische Flüchtigkeiten
A Poetic Meditation on Presence, Loss, and the Fragile Thread Between WorldsAward-winning Swiss author Hugo Ramnek invites readers into a luminous and contemplative poetic landscape with his collection Die längste Nacht (The Longest Night), subtitled Elegische Flüchtigkeiten.
In this finely crafted volume, Ramnek writes of fleeting moments drawn from life with the departed and the memory of those who remain — relatives, strangers, even animals. Under the shared star of transience, all are bound together. Through delicate poetic snapshots, the author captures what is most elusive: the subtle yet enduring connection between those who are here and those who are no longer present. For the duration of a poem, absence becomes presence; silence begins to speak.
The collection includes the celebrated poem “Himmel und Hölle” (Heaven and Hell), which received recognition at the First Zurich Poetry Prize, affirming Ramnek’s distinct lyrical voice and emotional depth.
A brief excerpt from the poem Ahnen (“Ancestors”) reflects the tone of the collection:
Voices from the crevices
of everyday life, the cracks
of sleep silenced
yet not extinguished.Published in 2022, Die längste Nacht appears in a finely bound hardcover edition of approximately 100 pages, complete with a ribbon marker. It is also available as an e-book.
Publication Details:
Format: Hardcover with ribbon marker
Length: 100 pages
ISBN: 978-3-99029-491-8
Year: 2022
E-Book: AvailableWith Die längste Nacht, Hugo Ramnek once again confirms his place among contemporary European poets who explore memory, mortality, and human connection with lyrical clarity and quiet intensity.
