As an Austrian writer born in Griffen on December 6 1942, Handke studied Law at the University of Graz between 1961 and 1965. His literary production covers many literary genres, including plays, novels, poetry and essays and tries to break free from conventional literary elements.

His writing represents the Neue Subjektivität (New Subjectivity). In 1966 he published his first novel, The Hornets and premiered three plays including the controversial Offending the Audience. His first collection of poems, The Inner World of the Outer World of the Inner World, appeared in 1969. Since his story The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1970), he wrote the script, together with Wim Wenders, for the movie Wenders directed: a joint project that would be repeated later in the movie Wings of Desire (1987).

Some of his plays include Kaspar (1968), based on the story of Kaspar Hauser, and The Kitchen, a play that premiered in 2001 under direction of  Serb Mladen Materic. His novels include The Chinaman of Pain (1983), Absence (1987), A Writer's Afternoon (1987), My Year in the No-Mans Bay (1994) and Der Bildverlust (2002).

His essays deal with personal experiences, linguistic innovations and documentary features, creating a sort of essay-novel, as can be enjoyed in The Moment of an Experienced Feeling (1975), The Weight of the World (1978), Essay on the Jukebox (1990) and Essay on an Accomplished Day (1991).