Born on March 15, 1947, in Vienna as the only son of a police officer and an office worker, he describes his parents' home in a municipal housing complex as “uneducated.” His father was a communist until the Hungarian uprising of 1956. After graduating from high school and serving in the Austrian Armed Forces, Schuh studied philosophy, history, and German language and literature at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1976 with a thesis on Hegel and the logic of practice. From 1976 to 1980, Schuh was secretary general of the Graz Authors' Assembly. He is also a long-time editor of the literary magazine “Wespennest” and program director at Deuticke Verlag. Since the 1980s, Schuh has written numerous reviews for various newspapers, such as “Profil” and “Falter”, as well as columns, primarily on TV programs for “DIE ZEIT” and, since 2009, for the magazine “Datum”. Schuh is particularly known as a witty speaker at readings and lectures.
He became known nationwide as a “radio philosopher” with his monthly Ö1 column “Magazin des Glücks” (Magazine of Happiness). He also teaches creative writing at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Mozarteum Salzburg, and the Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. With works on Karl Kraus, Elias Canetti, Konrad Bayer, and Thomas Bernhard, he establishes a literary tradition for his own work. Karl Kraus in particular permeates Schuh's own journalism, and in 2014 he reissued “Die letzten Tage der Menschheit” (The Last Days of Mankind). In 2006, he presented “Schwere Vorwürfe, schmutzige Wäsche” (Serious Accusations, Dirty Laundry), a collection of essays, feature articles, and interspersed poems, which he himself described as his “major work, consisting entirely of trivialities.” He reads the audiobook himself.
His essays, published sporadically, appear in three anthologies. Following “Lachen und Sterben” (Laughing and Dying, 2021) and “Ein Mann ohne Beschwerden” (A Man Without Complaints, 2023), “Steck den Sand nicht in den Kopf” (Don't Put Sand in Your Head, 2025) was recently published by Hanser. Schuh has received numerous awards for his journalistic work, including the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for Non-Fiction and Essays, the Austrian Art Prize for Literature, and the Johann Heinrich Merck Prize for Literary Criticism and Essays from the German Academy for Language and Literature.
Awards (Selection)
2025 Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art
2022 Honorary doctorate, University of Klagenfurt
2021 Bruno-Kreisky-Prize
2021 Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Prize
2017 Paul-Watzlawick-Ring of Honour
2011 Austrian Art Award
2009 Essay Prize Tractatus Philosophicum Lech
2006 Davos Swiss Media Award for outstanding achievements in journalism
2006 Leipzig Book Fair Prize (category Non-fiction/Essays)
2000 Jean-Améry-Prize
1985 Austrian State Award for literary journalism
Selected bibliography
2025 Steck den Sand nicht in den Kopf (Don't Put Sand in Your Head)
2023 Ein Mann ohne Beschwerden (A Man Without Complaints)
2022 Vom Guten, Wahren und Schlechten. Ein Lesebuch
2021 Lachen und Sterben (Laughing and Dying)
2017 Fortuna. Aus dem Magazin des Glücks
2014 Sämtliche Leidenschaften
2011 Der Krückenkaktus. Erinnerungen an die Liebe, die Kunst und den Tod
2008 Memoiren. Ein Interview gegen mich selbst
2007 Hilfe! Ein Versuch zur Güte
2006 Schwere Vorwürfe, schmutzige Wäsche
2003 Figurenwerfen. Der Peter Henisch Reader
2000 Schreibkräfte
1995 Der Stadtrat. Eine Idylle
1991 Das fantasierte Exil
1989 Landnahme. Der österreichische Roman nach 1980
1985 Liebe, Macht und Heiterkeit
1984 Fremdenverkehr. Kritische Texte über den Tourismus
1981 Das Widersetzliche der Literatur
Radio plays (Selection)
2001 Mitte letzter Woche entwickelten sich menschenähnliche Affen zu affenähnlichen Menschen
1998 Denken mit Proust
1994 Literatur und Gedanken von Franz Schuh
1991 Die Macht der Langeweile. Radioshow
1987 Blutige Ernte - Bekenntnisse eines Krimirezensenten
1987 Der Maturant als Abenteurer