Josef Winkler (b. 1953, Austria) is the author of fourteen books, among them the award-winning trilogy Das wilde Kärnten. His major themes are suicide, homosexuality, and the corrosive influence of Catholicism and Nazism in Austrian country life. Winner of the 2008 Büchner prize, subject of the award-winning film Josef Winkler, der Kinoleinwandgeher, and current president of the Austrian Art Senate, Winkler lives in Klagenfurt with his wife and two children.