Fritsch studied philosophy, ethnology and literature at Ludwig Maximillian University, Munich. His published works include Hereafter (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 2000), The Merry Wives of Wiesau (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 2000), Cherubim (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 1987, Quarry (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 1989), Mincer, Battle (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 1992), Chroma: Color Theory for Chameleons (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 2002), and Nico – Sphinx of Ice (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/M. 2004).

His films include These Are The Thunderstorms In Nature (1988), Like A Bird: The Wheel Of Fortune (2008), Faust Sonnengesang / Faust – Song of the Sun (2012).

Fritsch is a recipient of the International Documentary Film Festival Munich Award (1990), the Rauris Literature Prize (1988), the Robert Walser Prize (1987), the Award of Carinthia at the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize (1987), the Heimito von Doderer Award (1999), the Else Lasker-Schüler Playwright Prize (1997), the Bavarian State Prize for Literature (1996), and the Arno Schmidt Scholarship (2007).

His radio play ENIGMA EMMY GÖRING received the award “Hörspiel” of the year 2006, the ARD radio play prize 2007 and the German audio book prize 2008. For DIESER AUGEN BLICK he received the short play award of the rbb 2009. In 2010 he was guest of the Casa Baldi / Villa Massimo.

In 2011 he received the Peter Suhrkamp scholarship; in 2012 the Sinecure Lansdorff. In 2013, he won the Grand Prix Marulic and the Grand Prix Nova with his radio poem FAUST SONNENGESANG. In 2015 he received the Schillerehrengabe. In 2016 he was awarded the Bavarian Cultural Prize for Literature. His books and films are published by Suhrkamp. Werner Fritsch is a member of the PEN Club and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. Werner Fritsch lives in Hendelmühle and Berlin.