The Büchner-Preisträger for 2006 was announced earlier this year to be Oskar Pastior. The author and translator, from Transylvania, is known for his experimental prose texts and Dada-influenced poetry. The award was to have been presented to him officially on 21st October in Darmstadt, but Pastior passed away on 5th October. His first poetry collection Offne Worte was published in 1964. During a study visit to Vienna in 1968, Pastior decided not to return to Rumania and from 1969 lived in (West-)Berlin. Among his numerous collections are the volumes Das Hören des Genitivs (1997), Villanella & Pantum (2000) and o du roher iasmin. Gedichte zu Charles Baudelaire (2002). Since 2000 the Hanser Verlag has been producing a Pastior-Werkausgabe.
