Born in May 15, 1964 in Düren, Germany, Michael Lentz studied German literature and philosophy, first in Aachen and later in Munich. His dissertation was on post-war sound poetry and music, and his poetry reflects those interests. He now lives in Berlin and Leipzig.
He is the author of numerous books, including poetry, prose, and fiction. His most popular works, published by S. Fischer Verlag, including Neue Anagramme (1998), Oder. Prosa (1998), Ende gut. Sprechakte (2001) (with a CD), Aller Ding. Gedichte (2003) and the novel Liebeserklärung, published in 2003 as a book and CD.
In 2000 edition selene published his critical-documentary research consisting of two volumes: Lautpoesie/-musik nach 1945. Eine kritisch-dokumentarische Bestand-saufnahme, a basic work dedicated to the theory and history of sound poetry since 1945. Alongside the detailed commentary and analysis of existing trends of sound poetry, the book presents samples of creative activities of various authors, interviews, and man-ifestos. He did his Ph.D. dissertation at the Universität Siegen.
Lentz is the author of numerous articles on the issues of theory and history of sound poetry and has presented works on radio, in magazines, catalogues, and anthologies. He edited “KLANGZEICHEN.” KLANGZEICHEN 1: Bob Cobbing: VerbiVisiVoco. Collected Poems 1942-2002 (2003, with a CD) and KLANGZEICHEN 2: Franz Mon: Freiflug für Fangfraagen. 106 Alphabetgedichte mit 26 Versalcollagen und eine CD mit Lauttexten.
Since 1996 he has conducted a number of curatorial projects at SOUNDBOX. Akustische Kunst (Salzberg, München, Berlin), in which representatives of various schools of sound poetry of the world participated. Lentz has participated himself in various festivals, readings and concerts in Europe, the USA, and Asia. Since 1989 he has been performing as a member of Josef Anton Riedl’s ensemble—a group tackling a wide range of experimental music, multimedia compositions and audio-visual environments.
In 2001 he was a fellow at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
Lentz is a recipient of various literary rewards and prizes, including the 1. Preis Individual Competition National Poetry Slam (1998), Literaturförderungspreis des Freistaates Bayern (1999), Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis (2001), Hans-Erich-Nossack-Förderpreis des BDI (2002), Preis der Literaturhäuser (2005). He is president of the Freie Akademie der Künste zu Leipzig.
BOOKS OF POETRY:
Frankfurt am Main (Wien: Edition Selene, 1998); Neue Anagramme (Wien: Edition Selene, 1998); Ende Gut. (Wien: Edition Selene, 2001); Aller Ding (Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 2003).
