Elfriede Jelinek, born in Vienna in 1946, began studying piano and composition at the Vienna Conservatory in 1960. After completing secondary school in 1964, Jelinek studied art history and theatre studies at the University of Vienna. In 1967 Elfriede Jelinek began to write plays, novels, essays, screenplays, libretti, translations and poetry and is now counted among the most important contemporary authors in the German language. Her work, dedicated to the criticism of capitalism, fascism and patriarchy, has received numerous accolades, including the Georg Büchner Prize and the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature.