Helen Meier

Helen Meier
Born17 April 1929
Mels, Switzerland
Died13 February 2021(2021-02-13) (aged 91)
Trogen, Switzerland
OccupationWriter

Helen Meier (17 April 1929 – 13 February 2021) 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 Lehrerseminar [de] 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

Works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bestand hat, was erzählt ist – Zum Tod von Helen Meier – Saiten". www.saiten.ch (in Swiss High German). 13 February 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Eine Meisterin des Ungemütlichen". SRF (in German). 13 February 2021. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Schweizer Autorin Helen Meier mit 91 Jahren gestorben". Deutschland Kultur (in German). 13 February 2021. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "TROGEN: Erstmals Schriftstellerin geehrt". Tagblatt (in French). 26 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017.