Peter Bichsel

Peter Bichsel (born 1935 in Lucerne) was a Swiss writer. The son of a craftsman, he grew up in Olten and trained as a primary-school teacher at the teacher-training college in Solothurn. He worked as a teacher until 1968 and later served as personal adviser to Swiss Federal Councillor Willi Ritschard from 1974 to 1981. Bichsel became widely known in 1964 with his first story collection, Eigentlich möchte Frau Blum den Milchmann kennenlernen, and received the Group 47 Literature Prize in 1965. Other notable works include Kindergeschichten and Der Busant. He received the German Youth Literature Prize for Kindergeschichten in 1970 and the Kassel Literature Prize for Grotesque Humor in 2000.