Paul-Henri Campbell

Contents

Paul-Henri Campbell (birth name: Christopher Paul-Henri Campbell; born 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a German-American author. He writes in English and German.[1] He studied classical philology (Ancient Greek) and Catholic theology at the National University of Ireland and the Goethe University Frankfurt in Frankfurt am Main.

Biography

Paul-Henri Campbell is the son of an American army officer and a German nurse.[2] He grew up in Massachusetts before moving to Germany with his parents, where he completed his high school education in Bavaria.[3] Campbell has a serious congenital heart defect since birth[4] and carries a pacemaker since the age of 24.[5] He discontinued his doctoral studies in fundamental theology at the Jesuit University Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main. He held senior positions at the Diocese of Limburg and the Austrian Conference of Religious Orders before becoming a freelance writer.[6][7][8] He is married to violist and writer Tamara Štajner. He lives in Vienna, Austria.

Campbell is a founding member of PEN Berlin[9] and was elected to its board in November 2024.[10]

Works

For his poetry collection nach den narkosen (2017), Campbell received the Bavarian arts and literary prize. Additionally, the literary critic Gregor Dotzauer selected the collection for Literaturhaus Berlin as one of the “Ten Poetry Collections of the Year 2017.”[11] Uljana Wolf nominated the collection for the poetry recommendations of the German Academy for Language and Literature in 2018.[12] The collection features poems that develop a poetics of illness or "insufficiency," a poetic position for which Campbell coined the hermeneutic term "salutonormativity," inspired by Judith Butler.[13]

He profiled numerous authors, artists, and musicians, such as Marianna Gartner, Sebastian Schrader, Gabriela Montero, Hartwig Ebersbach, Arno Rink, Sighard Gille, Michael Morgner. He wrote extensively about tattoo artists, such as Henk Schiffmacher, Manfred Kohrs, oder Alex Binnie. His work has been widely published in magazines and newspapers, such as Tagesspiegel (Berlin),[14] Lichtungen (Graz), Stars & Stripes (Washington D.C.),[15] die furche (Vienna),[16] Akzente (Munich), Frankfurter Hefte (Berlin),[17] World Literature Today (Oklahoma City), Volltext (Vienna), DAS GEDICHT, and others. He writes a biweekly column for the International Catholic Journal Communio, entitled "God in 99 Objects",[18] and hosts the podcast "ÄNDERN leben"[19] that discusses spirituality with a wide variety of guests, such as the award-winnig chef Konstantin Filippou, hairstylist Mario Krankl,[20] the artist Elisabeth von Samsonow,[21] as well as composers, photographers and writers.

Awards

  • 2026 National Grant awarded by the German Literary Fund[22]
  • 2023 Innovation Award for his work on religious tattoos[23] from the Zentrum für Pastoralforschung.[24]
  • 2022 Audience Appreciation Award at the Dresdner Lyrikpreis[25]
  • 2022 Alfred-Gruber-Preis beim Lyrikpreis Meran[26]
  • 2022 Residency at the Ubbelohde-Haus[27]
  • 2021 Dresdner Chamisso-Poetikdozentur[28]
  • 2020 Junge Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur in Mainz[29]
  • 2018 Junior Award at the Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreises for nach den narkosen[30]
  • 2017 Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis (Literature)[31]

References

  1. 1."Poetry discussion – Illness and silence". Deutschlandfunk. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
  2. 2.""Literature imparts a sense of autonomy and intimacy upon us" – Interview with Paul-Henri Campbell - Age of Artists". Archived from the original on 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  3. 3.Antje Weber (2017-08-13). "Being unwell is not healthy". sueddeutsche.de. ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  4. 4.Michael Braun: Song of a damaged life, Badische Zeitung, May 6, 2017, accessed July 2, 2018.
  5. 5.Leipzig Fernsehen Interview with Paul-Henri Campbell in Marias Nachtgespräch [1] Deprecated link archived 2012-12-10 at archive.today Nov. 9, 2011.
  6. 6."A tattoo for the monk at the Catholic tattoo campaign at Stephansplatz" (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  7. 7."Quo vadis?: Religious tattoos and a church innovation award" (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  8. 8."When faith goes under the skin: Tattoos and religion – An interview with Paul-Henri Campbell (author) (18.04.2019) | DOMRADIO.DE" (in German). 18 April 2019. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  9. 9."Founding members" (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  10. 10."Board – PEN Berlin" (in German). 11 September 2022. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  11. 11.Herbert Wiesner (2017-12-27). "The best poetry of the year 2017". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  12. 12."Paul-Henri Campbell: nach den narkosen" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  13. 13.Antje Weber (2017-08-13). "Being unwell is not healthy". sueddeutsche.de. ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  14. 14."Weg mit den Tabus: Zwischen US-Kulturszene und Trump schmelzen die Pole". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  15. 15."Borderless Europe: Introducing the European Capital of Culture 2025". Stripes Europe. Retrieved 2025-02-20.
  16. 16.FURCHE, Die. "US-Nonnen gegen Waffenlobby: Wie man widersteht". US-Nonnen gegen Waffenlobby: Wie man widersteht | DIE FURCHE (in Austrian German). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  17. 17."Autor". www.frankfurter-hefte.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  18. 18."Gott in 99 Objekten: Die Kolumne von Paul-Henri Campbell | COMMUNIO". www.herder.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  19. 19."Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  20. 20."Friseurweltmeister Mario Krankl - Bester Friseur Salzburg". mariokrankl.com (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  21. 21."samsonow.net - ★". www.samsonow.net. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  22. 22."Ergebnisse der Kuratoriumssitzung vom 23./24. Februar 2026". Deutscher Literaturfonds (in German). Retrieved 2026-03-12.
  23. 23.Maximilian Sepp (2023-04-30), "Katholische Tattoos: Ein kleines Kreuzerl am rechten Arm", Die Zeit, Hamburg, ISSN 0044-2070, retrieved 2024-12-11
  24. 24."Quo vadis?: Mit religiösen Tattoos zu kirchlichem Innovationspreis" (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  25. 25."Start". Archived from the original on 2022-11-02. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  26. 26."Homepage" (in German). Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  27. 27."Zwei Raben: Literatur in Oberhessen" (in German). Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  28. 28.Deutscher Tele Markt GmbH-Internet- und Werbeagentur (29 November 2021). "Ins Fleisch. Dritte Vorlesung der Chamisso-Poetikdozentur 2021 mit Paul-Henri Campbell" (in German). Retrieved 2021-12-09.
  29. 29."Neue Runde der Jungen Akademie | Mainz gestartet : Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur | Mainz". Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  30. 30."Stiftung Hermann Hesse Literaturpreis Karlsruhe, Preisträger seit 1957". Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  31. 31.""Herausragende Werke des literarischen Nachwuchses" – Kunstminister Dr. Ludwig Spaenle gibt Preisträger des "Bayerischen Kunstförderpreises 2017" in der Sparte "Literatur" bekannt". Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2017-10-01.