Adler’s health condition had already led to the cancellation of her planned participation in the 47th competition for the Bachmann Prize in Klagenfurt in July. Adler was born Stephanie Helena Prähauser in Oberndorf near Salzburg in 1983 and grew up on a farm. In Salzburg she studied German, psychology, philosophy and painting. Initially active primarily as a visual artist, she later began publishing literary texts and was co-founder of the literature workshop LiLoLa (Literature Lobby Land). In order not to be confused with her colleague Teresa Präauer, who also works as an author and artist, she chose the pen name Helena Adler.
Shortlisted for book prize twice
With two of her first three novels – “The Infanta wears the parting on the left” (2020) and “Fretten” (2022) – Adler was on the shortlist for the Austrian Book Prize in 2022. In 2018, her debut novel “Hertz 52” was published by the small Arovell Verlag. For work on her second novel, published in 2020 (Jung und Jung publishing house), she received an annual scholarship from the state of Salzburg for literature worth 10,000 euros. The novel “The Infanta wears her head on the left” was playfully dedicated to the offspring of farmers and their survival strategies. The book is “in the tradition of the Austrian anti-homeland novel, but finds a completely new tone that has never been heard or read before,” said the jury of the Austrian Book Prize, where Adler made it into the final round. There were also nominations for the German Book Prize (longlist) and the hotlist of independent publishers.
Two years later, “Fretten” was released, with which Adler not only made it to the top of the ORF best list, but also made it into the final round of the Austrian Book Prize. The drama of puberty and the conquest of independence is told, but it is less about narration than about associations and alliteration.
Contemporary Austrian literature has lost one of its most promising voices.
