Rut Plouda

Plouda was born in Tarasp, Grisons, to parents who were both teachers. She was the third of four daughters. After completing her mandatory education, she attended a teacher training college in Chur before teaching in Savognin and Ftan.^[2]

After the publication of her first book, La Bos-cha Tuorna a Flurir, in 1984, Plouda made regular appearances on Romansh radio.^[3][4] She has since been regarded as an important figure for the promotion of the Romansh language by the Swiss national radio station Schweizer Radio DRS, and its successor, SRF.^[5]

The death of Plouda's 19-year-old son, who had Down syndrome, in 1996, was the inspiration for her book As Though Nothing Were (original title: Sco Scha Nüglia nu Füss), published in 2000.^[6] The book won the Schiller award in 2001, and has since been translated into German, French and English.^[7][8][9]

The audiobook version of As Though Nothing Were was the first ever audiobook published in the Vallader dialect, and the second in the Romansh language overall.^[10] In 2008, Plouda collaborated with the Geneva-based band Tiger the Lion for their songs S'co Scha Nüglia nu Füss and Las Stailas, based on As Though Nothing Were.^[11]