Helga M. Novak

Helga M. Novak was a German-Icelandic writer.
Novak was born in Berlin. She grew up in East Germany, studied journalism and philosophy at the University of Leipzig. She resigned from the East German Socialist Unity Party in 1957 in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary the previous year.
She moved to Iceland in 1961, where she married and had two children before her divorce.
She traveled to Spain, France, and the U.S., before returning to East Germany. When her citizenship was revoked for writing and publishing critical texts, she moved between Iceland, Germany, Poland, and Bulgaria. For a short period, she was an informer for the East German Stasi. In 2004, German authorities denied her German citizenship. Novak died in 2013 in Berlin.

Awards

1968 Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen
1979/1980 Stadtschreiber von Bergen
1985 Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis
1989 Roswitha Prize
1989 Ernst Reuter Prize
1990 Marburger Literaturpreis
1993 Gerrit-Engelke-Preis
1994 Ehrengabe der Deutschen Schillerstiftung
1997 Brandenburgischen Literaturpreis
1998 Ehrengabe der Bayerischen Akademie der Schönen Künste
2001 Ida-Dehmel-Literaturpreis

Works

Ballade von der reisenden Anna, Neuwied 1965Colloquium mit vier Häuten, Neuwied 1967Das Gefrierhaus. Die Umgebung, Hamburg 1968 Geselliges Beisammensein, Neuwied 1968Wohnhaft im Westend, Neuwied 1970 Aufenthalt in einem irren Haus, Neuwied 1971Seltsamer Bericht aus einer alten Stadt, Hannover 1973 Die Ballade von der kastrierten Puppe, Leverkusen 1975 Balladen vom kurzen Prozess, Berlin 1975Die Landnahme von Torre Bela, Berlin 1976Margarete mit dem Schrank, Berlin 1978Die Eisheiligen, Darmstadt 1979Palisaden, Darmstadt 1980Vogel federlos, Darmstadt 1982Grünheide Grünheide, Darmstadt 1983Legende Transsib, Darmstadt 1985Märkische Feemorgana, Frankfurt am Main 1989Aufenthalt in einem irren Haus, Frankfurt am Main 1995Silvatica, Frankfurt am Main 1997Solange noch Liebesbriefe eintreffen, Frankfurt am Main 1999