Helen Meier


Helen Meier was a Swiss writer and teacher. She wrote eight collections of short stories and three novels, and was awarded a number of prizes, including the Rauris Literature Prize, the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung prize twice, the Droste-Preis, and Culture Prizes from the Kantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

Biography

Meier was born in Mels in 1929. Meier attended a in Rorschach and subsequently became a primary schoolteacher. After working in England, France, and Italy, she attended the University of Fribourg, studying languages and education. She subsequently worked for the Swiss Red Cross and as a special education teacher in Heiden. She began writing at the age of 55 in 1984, when she submitted a short story, Lichtempfindlich, for the Ingrid Bachmann Competition at the Festival of German-Language Literature. The story won the Ernst-Willner Prize and became part of her first published collection, Trockenwiese. Meier went on to publish regularly, and wrote eight collections of short stories and three novels. She was awarded a number of prizes, including the Rauris Literature Prize, the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung twice, the Droste-Preis, and Culture Prizes from the Kantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
Meier's last publication was a set of fairytales she had written as a young woman, The White Bird, the Hat, and the Princess, which was published in 2019.
Helen Meier died in a rest home in Trogen on her birthday, 13 February 2021, at the age of 91, after suffering from dementia.

Awards

  • Rauris Literature Prize
  • Prize of the
  • Prize of the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung
  • Contribution to Pro Helvetia
  • Droste-Preis
  • Kulturpreis des Kantons St. Gallen
  • Kulturpreis des Kantons Appenzell Ausserrhoden

    Works

  • Trockenwiese
  • Das einzige Objekt in Farbe
  • Das Haus am See
  • Das Gelächter
  • Lebenleben
  • Der Thurgau und seine Menschen
  • Die Suche nach dem Paradies. 36 Photographien aus dem Appenzellerland
  • Nachtbuch
  • Die Thur. Von der Quelle bis zur Mündung
  • Die Novizin
  • Letzte Warnung
  • Liebe Stimme
  • Adieu, Herr Landammann! Sieben Begegnungen mit Jacob Zellweger-Zuberbühler
  • Schlafwandel. Eine Erzählung
  • Kleine Beweise der Freundschaft
  • Die Agonie des Schmetterlings. Böse Geschichten
  • Übung im Torkeln entlang des Falls. Ein Lesebuch
  • ''Der weisse Vogel, der Hut und die Prinzessin. 23 Märchen''