Introduction and Biographical Notes
From time to time, I am asked why so much of my writing is in German, since many people assume that Rumantsch is my mother tongue. In trying to answer these questions and to reflect on my work in Rumantsch, I found myself drawn into a series of biographical reflections, one path leading to another. It is there that the following pages begin.
I was born in Scuol, Engiadina Bassa, in April 1967 to parents whose mother tongues were two different Graubünden (Grisons) German dialects. My mother came from Zizers and spoke a High Alemannic dialect; my father, from Davos and the Prättigau, belonged to the Walser tradition of Highest Alemannic speech. His own father had been born in the United States before returning with his family to Graubünden, adding a thread of migration to the family story.
Neither of my parents had an academic education, and I grew up far removed from what one would call an intellectual or literary milieu. As far back as family memory reaches, I was the first to attend a Gymnasium and later University. Yet books had a place in our home, because my mother was an eager, almost voracious reader. She read with passion and curiosity, carrying within her a love of stories that no formal education had given her. In retrospect, I suspect that this quiet devotion to reading mattered far more than any cultural pedigree.
Nothing in my background seemed to point towards a literary life. Perhaps this also explains why I only dared to publish at the age of forty-six. What my parents passed on was not academic privilege or literary traditions, but something less visible and equally precious: a love of language, stories and expression.
Ours was a household steeped in language. My mother made rhymes as naturally as she cooked and sang with a beautiful voice, as though words, music and everyday life belonged naturally together. My father was a born storyteller. Neither of them would ever have called this literature; to them, it was simply life. Stories and verses were part of everyday life long before I realised that this was not everyone’s experience.
There was also a third language, one that was not inherited but lovingly given. Although neither of my parents spoke Rumantsch, the language accompanied me from the very beginning: the midwife who welcomed me into the world spoke Vallader, and growing up in Scuol I was naturally immersed in the Rumantsch-speaking community, meis cumün – my village.
I learned to read and write in Vallader from my first schoolteacher, Chasper Sarott. Looking back, I realise that being first alphabetised in Rumantsch was one of the greatest gifts of my childhood. It shaped not only my relationship to language, but also my earliest encounters with reading, writing and imagination.
Later came Standard German and, through marriage, Puter, which we speak at home. I became part of a family of Engadine randulins -“swallows”, as emigrants from the valley were affectionately known – whose lives carried them to Florence, Bergamo, Trieste, England, Egypt and many other places, with some eventually returning home. For many of them, as for me, the mountains remained a place of profound belonging and home. In 1998/1999, my family and I spent a formative year in London, immersed in the English language and culture. It was there that I realised how profoundly life within a minority culture had prepared me to live beyond its borders.
From 2027 onwards, I will regularly spend time writing in New York City, thus returning, in a literary sense, to the country where my grandfather was born before his family returned to Graubünden.
Along the way, other languages also became part of my daily life and imagination. Italian, which has become one of the languages of my everyday life, is also a language of affection and friendship. French and English, together with many other languages that accompany me, have opened windows onto different worlds and ways of thinking. Languages have accompanied me throughout my life, and I remain grateful for their presence.
For more than three decades, my literary, educational, cultural and civic work has been closely intertwined with the Rumantsch language and its place within Switzerland’s multilingual cultural landscape. As a writer, teacher, mentor, cultural organiser and public servant, I have dedicated much of my work to strengthening the visibility, vitality and future of one of Europe’s smallest literary languages.
Literary Contributions
Poetry and prose have remained at the centre of my engagement with Rumantsch. In 2020, I published Vent per mia vela (Wind for My Sail), a collection of poems and lyrical prose in the idioms Vallader and Puter, issued by Uniun dals Grischs. The volume was presented at readings throughout Graubünden and eventually gave rise to an extensive reading tour across the canton in autumn 2024.
Two years later, Blackboard, an English-language selection translated by Hannah Felce and supplemented by additional texts written specifically for the edition, was published by Strangers Press in Norwich.
Earlier, in 2016, my short story Il postin was nominated for the Premi Term Bel at the Rumantsch Literature Days.
Over the years, my Rumantsch poems and short prose pieces have appeared in anthologies and literary journals including Litteratura and Chasa Paterna, as well as in bilingual publications in German-speaking contexts, among them Bonn and the University of Zurich. My work has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian and English.
Several of these translations emerged from Fervur rumantscha!, a collaboration between the Looren Translation Centre and the University of Zurich dedicated to literary translation from Rumantsch into other languages. Italian versions by Daniel Menna were subsequently presented alongside the originals during an invitation to Claudio Pozzani’s Stanza della Poesia in Genoa.
An important recent experience was my participation in Alpine Poesie der Gegenwart, held in Brixen/Bressanone/Persenon in South Tyrol in May 2026. Selected as one of five authors representing Graubünden, alongside five writers from Friuli and five from the Ladin-speaking valleys of the Dolomites. For the festival, organised by the Südtiroler Autorinnen- und Autorenvereinigung (SAAV) and the European Centre for Literature and Translation ZeLT, I contributed a cycle of poems devoted to love.
Together with the work of all participating writers, these texts were included in a multilingual anthology bringing together seventy-five original poems and one hundred and fifty translations, thereby creating a dialogue between three Alpine minority-language cultures. My poems, written in Puter and Vallader, appeared in German translations by Ruth Gantert and Italian translations by Walter Rosselli.
The work of the Rumantsch authors was introduced and contextualised by the scholar Rico Valär, and through readings, conversations and reflection the festival offered a rare meeting place for literary traditions rooted in the Alpine world.
Festivals, Readings and Performances
Literature has always been inseparable from performance. My poems, prose texts and dramatic works have been presented at numerous festivals and cultural institutions in Switzerland and abroad.
Among the memorable moments in Switzerland was the invitation to Fundaziun Nairs in Scuol, where my first Rumantsch play, Ün tschientmillevel da l’alfabet feminin, was premiered by actress Anny Weiler. I later appeared at the Rumantsch Literature Days in Domat/Ems, accompanied by the musician Astrid Alexandre, and at the Favella Bella Festival at Chesa Planta in Samedan. There, in 2024, Cirquopus received its premiere in collaboration with Curdin Nicolay, André Gemassmer and Ursula Filli.
International invitations have led me to the Schamrock Festival of Women Poets in Munich and, following this encounter, to a literary festival in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, at the invitation of the poet Kateryna Kalytko. I have also presented my work bilingually in Rumantsch and Italian in Genoa.
Spoken word has long formed an important part of my literary practice. Performances at poetry slams and spoken-word festivals in Sent, Samedan and Vuorz, as well as appearances at woerdz in Lucerne and Slam Basel, have allowed me to bring Rumantsch into contemporary oral forms. Moderating Rumantsch spoken-word events and promoting the language within the Swiss slam scene have become natural extensions of this work.
This commitment was recognised through an invitation to join the jury of the Swiss Poetry Slam Championship in 2025. A year later, I was selected as a performer, presenting Rumantsch on one of the country’s most important spoken-word stages.
At the 2026 Rumantsch Literature Days, collaboration will once again take centre stage. Together with the rapper Giganto, I will explore the meeting point between contemporary literature and music, while a second bilingual programme with singer-songwriter Cinzia Regensburger will weave stories of love around songs from her album Per tai.
For ten years I wrote a bi-monthly Rumantsch column for the Volg Zeitung. I continue to contribute to Nossa baselgia and have written more than one hundred and fifty literary miniatures for RTR’s programme impuls.
Music has provided further opportunities for literary expression. I was invited to write the Rumantsch anthem for the Swiss National Park, premiered in Zernez in 2023, and have contributed song lyrics for the singer-songwriter Angelo Andina.
Interdisciplinary collaborations, exhibitions and musical projects have created further opportunities for literature to enter into dialogue with other artistic forms, including exhibition commentaries accompanied by musical interventions and collaborations at the intersection of literature, music and the visual arts.
Mentorships and Educational Contributions
Supporting younger voices and creating opportunities for literary exchange have always been central to my work. For five years, I curated and directed a literary platform devoted to Vallader, Puter and Jauer at the Kulturhotel Laudinella and Hotel Reine Victoria in St. Moritz, presenting more than twenty established and emerging authors.
This commitment also found expression in the DoubleLiteratur programme of Migros Kulturprozent, I accompanied Flurina Badel in 2018/19 and, several years later, Janic Maskos in 2023/24.
After returning to the Engadine in 1999, I taught Vallader and Puter language and literature for more than a decade at the Hochalpines Institut in Ftan, the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz and the Academia Engiadina in Samedan. At the Hochalpines Institut, I also taught history in Rumantsch to the bilingual Matura class. Preparatory courses for the Rumantsch Matura examinations and numerous writing workshops for pupils of different ages complemented my teaching activities.
For twelve consecutive years, beginning in 2000, I taught conversation courses within the intensive Rumantsch summer programme at Chesa Planta in Samedan. More recently, I was invited to contribute a literature module in Vallader and Puter to the intensive Sursilvan programme in Glion/Ilanz.
Working with young people through creative writing has always been particularly close to my heart. Together with Realschule classes in Samedan and Zernez, I co-authored the school novels Terror in Engiadina and Capricorns e cocaín. Developed in collaboration with the Junges Literaturlabor Zürich, the project received a Swiss Federal Literature Prize. Its purpose was, and remains, to strengthen linguistic confidence, creativity and personal development through literary creation in Rumantsch.
Creative-writing workshops for children, adolescents and adults in Bever, S-chanf and Celerina/Schlarigna have formed another part of this long-standing commitment to language promotion within the Rumantsch-speaking community.
In 2026, I accompanied the creation of the bilingual radio play Scheherazade as writing coach and – in what I affectionately describe as the role of a “literary secretary” – editorial companion to the students.
Another memorable experience brought me to Aquarium Studios in Zurich, where, under the direction of Manfred Zazzi, I supervised school classes dubbing a Czech fairy-tale film into Rumantsch. My collaboration with the studio had begun earlier, when I was invited to record the Rumantsch voice-over for a wildlife documentary.
Moderation, Cultural Leadership and Public Engagement
Alongside writing and teaching, I have long sought to create spaces for encounter and dialogue within Rumantsch culture and beyond. Moderation, curation and cultural organisation have therefore accompanied my literary work for many years.
When the trilingual Literature House of Graubünden/Grischun/Grigioni was inaugurated, I curated and moderated the Rumantsch section. Thirty authors took part, half of them in person and half through works entrusted to me for presentation.
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of moderating conversations, readings and public events with numerous writers and cultural figures, among them Dumenic Andry, Flurina Badel, Gianna Olinda Cadonau, Jacques Guidon, Leo Tuor, Nina Dazzi, Rut Plouda and Tina Planta, as well as many artists and personalities from Switzerland’s other linguistic regions.
Public discussions have also brought me to television. One memorable occasion was a live debate in November 2017 with Graubünden State Councillor Barbara Janom devoted to ecological futures and the possible consequences of a three-degree rise in temperatures across Europe.
The theatre has accompanied me since adolescence. As a teenager, I wrote and performed my own plays and participated in productions organised by the theatre enthusiasts of the mixed choir in my home village of Scuol.
Later, I had the pleasure of playing the title role in the Rumantsch adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan with the Societed Dramatica Samedan. I also appeared in several productions in Celerina during the centenary celebrations honouring the poet and dramatist Giovannes Mathis.
More recently, I was invited to join the jury of Pled Rumantsch da l’On, the annual “Rumantsch Word of the Year”, contributing to a project celebrating the vitality and continuing evolution of the language.
Public Service and Advocacy for Rumantsch Culture
My commitment to Rumantsch has extended beyond literature and education into public life and cultural advocacy.
From 2012 until 2024, I served on the Regional Council of SRG.R, the governing body of RTR Radiotelevisiun Rumantscha and the highest body of the Rumantsch-speaking regional unit within Swiss public broadcasting. During this period, I participated in the task force opposing the No-Billag initiative.
Today, I serve as co-president of the Media Alliance, which campaigns against the so-called Halving Initiative, and I remain actively engaged in efforts to safeguard the future of Rumantsch-language radio and television.
Public service at the municipal level has formed another important chapter of my life. I served as President of the School Commission in Samedan/Bever and later as Mayor (Prüm Cuvih/Bürgerpräsidentin) of Celerina/Schlarigna. In both roles, I was able to support institutions whose daily work is conducted in Rumantsch and thereby contribute to the continued presence of the language in public life.
Closing Reflection
Throughout these various activities, I have sought to strengthen the visibility, vitality and future of Rumantsch. As one of Europe’s smaller literary languages, Rumantsch depends not only on preservation but also on creation, dialogue and public presence.
I have always believed that a language survives not by being protected alone, but by being spoken, written, performed, debated and continually reimagined.
For me, Rumantsch has never been merely a heritage to preserve, but a living language to inhabit and share – one capable of creating new forms, fostering encounters and opening conversations across generations and borders.