Erika Burkart
Erika Burkart was a Swiss writer, teacher and poet. She wrote poems and epic poems, and received international recognition. Burkart was the recipient of many awards, among them the Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis, the Gottfried-Keller-Preis, the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis, and the Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart-Preis. She was also awarded the Grand Prize of the Swiss Schiller Foundation, the only woman to have received the prize.
Life
Erika Burkart was born on 8 February 1922 in Aarau, and spent much of her life in Aristau. She trained as a primary school teacher, and taught in a number of schools before becoming a full-time writer in 1955. Burkart wrote twenty four collections of poetry over her life. Her debut poetry collection, Der dunkle Vogel, was published in 1953. Some of Burkart's poems were set to music by Rudolf Kelterborn and Gottfried von Einem. Burkart also wrote eight prose works, which achieved international recognition. Her first novel Moräne, published in 1970, was quoted in Alice Miller's book Poisonous Pedagogy.Erika Burkart's literary estate is archived in the Swiss Literary Archives in Bern.
Burkart died in Muri on 14 April 2010. She was married to writer Ernst Halter.
Awards
Burkart was the recipient of many awards. Burkart was awarded the Droste Prize in 1958, the Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis in 1961, the J. P. Hebel Prize in 1978, and in 1990 both the Mozart Prize and the Gottfried Keller Prize. She won the Joseph Breitbach Prize in 2002. In 2005, she was awarded the Grand Schiller Prize by the Swiss Schiller Foundation, on the foundation's 100th anniversary. At the time of her death in 2010 she was the only woman to ever have been awarded the prize, and as the prize has not been awarded since 2012, this remains the case.Works
Poetry books
Der dunkle Vogel, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1953Sterngefährten, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1955Bann und Flug, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1956Geist der Fluren, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1958Die gerettete Erde, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1960Mit den Augen der Kore, Tschudy Verlag, St. Gallen 1962Ich lebe, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1964Die weichenden Ufer, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1967Fernkristall. Ausgewählte Gedichte, Verlag an der Hartnau, Tobel 1972Die Transparenz der Scherben, Benziger Verlag, Zurich 1973Das Licht im Kahlschlag, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1977Augenzeuge. Ausgewählte Gedichte, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1978Die Freiheit der Nacht, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1981Sternbild des Kindes, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1984Schweigeminute, Artemis Verlag, Zurich 1988Ich suche den blauen Mohn, Pflanzengedichte, GS-Verlag, Basel 1989Die Zärtlichkeit der Schatten, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 1991Stille fernster Rückruf, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 1997Langsamer Satz, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 2002Ortlose Nähe, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 2005Geheimbrief, Ammann Verlag, Zurich 2009Das späte Erkennen der Zeichen, Weissbooks.w Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010Nachtschicht / Schattenzone, Weissbooks.w Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011, together with Ernst HalterEnglish translation
- Nightshift / An Area of Shadows, translated by Marc Vincenz,
- A Late Recognition of the Signs, translated by Marc Vincenz,