Swiss Deluxe Hotels stir the advertising drum with literary figures
The Swiss Deluxe Hotels SDH association, to which 39 five-star hotels in Switzerland belong, is inviting authors to write short stories. The "Writers in Residence" project is intended to revive the tradition of hotel writers, as Fiorennz Fässler, Managing Director of the association, told the media in Zurich on Thursday.
The list of literary figures who have stayed in Swiss luxury hotels over the last three centuries is
long. It ranges from Voltaire to Goethe, Balzac and Victor Hugo, Hans Christian Andersen, Johanna Spyri, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, John le Carré and Paulo Coelho. Swiss author Zoë Jenny, for example, completed her novel "A Fast Life" in three months at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel.
Many writers seek peace and relaxation in the hotels, but sometimes also creative inspiration, said Fässler. Bern's Bellevue Palace, for example, is the setting for two crime novels by British author John le Carré. People and destinies inevitably come together in the Grand Hotel. The guest is both actor and spectator. This has attracted writers, said cultural scientist Cordula Seger.
The association now wants to reinterpret this tradition. The 39 Swiss Deluxe Hotels each want to host an author for three days next year. These should primarily be Swiss authors or authors living in the
Swiss resident writers. Anyone who has published at least two novels that are not self-published can apply. The authors should work on their short stories in the hotel. A subject to be selected will serve as the central theme. The texts must be submitted to the SDH by the end of November and should be published in spring 2012.
long. It ranges from Voltaire to Goethe, Balzac and Victor Hugo, Hans Christian Andersen, Johanna Spyri, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, John le Carré and Paulo Coelho. Swiss author Zoë Jenny, for example, completed her novel "A Fast Life" in three months at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel.
Many writers seek peace and relaxation in the hotels, but sometimes also creative inspiration, said Fässler. Bern's Bellevue Palace, for example, is the setting for two crime novels by British author John le Carré. People and destinies inevitably come together in the Grand Hotel. The guest is both actor and spectator. This has attracted writers, said cultural scientist Cordula Seger.
The association now wants to reinterpret this tradition. The 39 Swiss Deluxe Hotels each want to host an author for three days next year. These should primarily be Swiss authors or authors living in the
Swiss resident writers. Anyone who has published at least two novels that are not self-published can apply. The authors should work on their short stories in the hotel. A subject to be selected will serve as the central theme. The texts must be submitted to the SDH by the end of November and should be published in spring 2012.
