[3] He graduated from high school in 1978 and subsequently studied German philology at the University of Vienna.
His works include children's books, for which he got multiple awards, poetry, as well as theater plays and dance pieces and film scripts.
In particular, he won Kinderbuchpreis der Stadt Wien twelve times between 1995 and 2011, the Bologna Ragazzi Award in 2006, and the Austrian national children's literature award, Österreichischer Staatspreis für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur, five times between 2007 and 2012.
In 2020, he received a lifetime achievement award, the Grosser Preis der Deutschen Akadamie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur.
[5] Before winning the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 2024, he was nominated in 2022, but did not become a finalist.