Media outlets in Germany and Austria yesterday, Tuesday, reproduced the false news about the death of Nobel laureate literature writer Elfride Jelinek, who, however, assured Agence France-Presse that she is fine.

“Again? This is the second time I’ve died. It had already happened to me last year. But I’m still here,” the 78-year-old writer commented with humor.

The information was initially posted on X, an account supposedly belonging to a subsidiary of a German publishing house, and reproduced by media outlets, prompting strong emotional reactions on social media sites.

Before, the same account posted a message revealing it was a hoax created “by me, Italian journalist Tomasso Debendetti.”

Rowohlt Verlag, whose distinctive title was used to spread the macabre hoax via a fake account, denied the information via X and Facebook.

Tomasso Debendetti, who some media outlets portray as a “high school teacher in Rome,” has been spreading false news online for years to show the recklessness of journalists who rush to relay it without verifying it.

Politicians have been deceived as well. In 2022, an MP called for a minute’s silence during a parliamentary committee meeting on the death of former Austrian chancellor Franz Wranicki, the information about which was spread by the same source.

Elfride Jelinek, a resident of Vienna, is among the writers in the German language who are increasingly studied, especially in France.

Her novel The Pianistria (in Greek, Ekkremes, 2004) was adapted for the cinema by Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, 2001).

In 2004, she joined the very close circle of women who have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.