Mikael Vogel

Mikael Vogel was born in Bad Säckingen, Germany, in 1975. After living in Seattle, Paris, Tübingen and Freiburg (among other places), he has been based primarily in Berlin since 2003. He has published six books of poetry: zum Bleiben, wie zum Wandern – Hölderlin, theurer Freund (with José F. A. Oliver, Schiler & Mücke, 2020), Dodos auf der Flucht. Requiem für ein verlorenes Bestiarium (Verlagshaus Berlin, 2018), Morphine (Verlagshaus Berlin, 2014), Massenhaft Tiere (Verlagshaus Berlin, 2011), O Wildnis Dunkelheit! – Nachtgedichte (Offizin S. Meran, 2009) and Kassandra im Fenster (with Friederike Mayröcker and Bettina Galvagni, Offizin S. Meran, 2008). In 2016, his novella, Ebola Global, was released by the renowned underground publisher SuKulTuR whose booklets are distributed in vending machines.

 

In 2002, he was awarded a Hermann Lenz Writing Grant. In 2015, he traveled to Hōkkaido, Japan with a Yakiuta Travel Grant; in addition to his research there for Dodos auf der Flucht, work from his residence in Hōkkaido will appear in a forthcoming band of poetry on Japan. He was awarded the Medienpreis RAI Südtirol from Lyrikpreis Meran in 2016. In 2017, he was appointed Writer-in-Residence at Kommandantenhaus Dilsberg by the Kulturstiftung Rhein-Neckar-Kreis e.V. In 2019, Mikael Vogel received both the LeseLenz-Stipendium for Poetry in Hausach and the Literaturstipendium from the German state of Baden-Württemberg. In 2021, he was awarded the Arbeitsstipendium deutschsprachige Literatur für Berliner Autorinnen und Autoren. In 2022, he was awarded the Internationale Literaturdialoge with Austrian poet Isabella Feimer.

 

His poem “An den Schluckspecht” [To the Boozehound] inspired a craft beer with the name “Schluckspecht Pils” [Boozehound Pilsner] from the Berlin-based microbrewery Bierfabrik – his poem was printed on the label. Friederike Mayröcker included two poems by Mikael Vogel in the list of her 25 favourite poems of all time.

 

Photo by Siljarosa Schletterer