Florian Gantner was born in 1980 and studied comparative literature in Inssbruck, St. Ètienne and Vienna, where he now lives again after extended stays abroad. He has so far published four novels – Sternschnuppen der Menschheit (2012), Was man liest (2013), Trockenschwimmer (2015) and O.M. (2018) – as well as pieces in magazines (Lichtungen, Die Rampe among others). He received various awards like the Theodor-Körner-Prize (2014) as well as an artist residency at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin (2015). For excerpts from his fifth novel Soviel man weiß he received the Rauriser advancment adward as wells as the literature prize Floriana (both 2018). Since 2019 Florian Gantner is director of the festival "Literatur findet Land".