Peter Handke Biography

Peter Handke (German: [ˈhantkə]; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright and translator. His writings about the Yugoslav Wars and subsequent NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with criticism of the Western position and his speech at the funeral of Slobodan Milošević have caused controversy, and he has been widely described as an apologist for far-right Serbian nationalism. He has been awarded the Georg Büchner Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize and the International Ibsen Award; the latter award was extremely controversial and Handke was met by protesters in Oslo and widely described by critics in Norwegian media as a fascist with ties to war criminals. In 2006 his nomination for the Heinrich Heine Prize caused a scandal, and the prize was withdrawn due to his political views.