Elmar Schenkel

Elmar Schenkel (born 1953 near Soest, Westphalia) was Professor of English Literature at Leipzig University from 1993 to 2019 and headed its Studium universale from 2005 to 2015. He worked as a writer, translator and painter. His publications included novels, short stories, essays, aphorisms, poetry and travel books, including “Cyclomanie: Bicycle and Literature,” “Keplers Dämon” and “Unterwegs nach Xanadu.” A recurring subject of his work was the relationship between literature and bicycles. In 2011, Schenkel was village writer in Transylvania. His literary work received, among other distinctions, the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Advancement Award and the Hermann Hesse Advancement Award.