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Al Imfeld is the oldest son in a family of alpine farmers with 13
children. Customarily, he should have studied to becomea priest and
a missionary. But during his childhood, his father taught him to
“only believe half” of what he was taught - and Al kept to this to
this day.
Although he then did become a priest, he was accused of heresy
shortly thereafter, while pursuing a doctoral degree in Rome. Later
he was expelled from the Gregorian University. He received his
doctoral degree in the United States in Protestant theology. In the
fifties he became increasingly interested in the emerging field of
comparative religions. Because he considered theology too limited
for understanding the present, he studied sociology, journalism and
ultimately tropical agronomy.
Al Imfeld has authored close to fifty books on development policy
and African culture. In 1990 he ventured into the field of
literature. As a story teller he toured Namibia and Zimbabwe with
the circus and theatre “federlos.” Poems, which he had written for
many years, are prayers to him.
7 books of poems, 4 books of short stories and 3 story CDs are the
fruits of this labor.
In 2005 he received the literary support award of the Canton of
Zurich.
“In aller Welt zu Hause” (“At Home all over the World”) is a
fascinating biography on Al Imfeld by Lotta Suter.
It was published by Rotpunkt in 2005.
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