Erik Martin (12 January 1936 in

Neuss Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...

– 25 April 2017) was a German writer, songwriter and composer of songs. He was the founder and editor of the literature and art magazine ''

Muschelhaufen ''Muschelhaufen'' (heap of shells) is a German annual, originally combining literature and graphic arts. It was founded by Erik Martin from Viersen in 1969 and published - with an interruption of 11 years - until 2008, when the last issue came ...

''.

Life and work

Erik Martin was the first-born son of Illa and Ernst J. Martin – both dentists and dendrologists; they were the founders of the Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen. His sister is the tree-and-bush expert Helge Breloer. Martin grew up in

Kaldenkirchen Kaldenkirchen ( li, Kaldekerke) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, situated close to the Dutch border at Venlo. It is part of the municipality of Nettetal. History The earliest reference to “Caldenkirken” appears in a document ...

, went to

Aloisiuskolleg The Aloisiuskolleg is a co-educational, Jesuit (Catholic), University-preparatory school in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany, which includes boarders. It is named for Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Highly ranked academically, it is considered one of the m ...

in Bad Godesberg and graduated at Thomaeum High-School Kempen. After studies in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

he worked as a teacher of German and Biology in

Viersen Viersen (; li, Veeëse) is the capital of the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km east o ...

, where he created schoolgardens and worked out environmental projects joining the German Waldjugend. In 1997 he received the Klaus-Gundelach-Prize for his merits concerning his

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

and his youth novel ''Fjellwanderung''. Muschelhaufencover

From 1969 to 2008 Erik Martin edited ''Muschelhaufen'', an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

for literature and graphics. In numerous special editions he helped recover writers such as Albert Vigoleis Thelen, Margot Scharpenberg or Fritz Grasshoff. Stories and Poems by well-known writers such as

Ernst Jandl Ernst Jandl (; 1 August 1925 – 9 June 2000) was an Austrian writer, poet, and translator. He became known for his experimental lyric, mainly sound poems (''Sprechgedichte'') in the tradition of concrete and visual poetic forms. Poetry Inf ...

Annemarie Schimmel Annemarie Schimmel (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992. Early life and education ...

(honoured with the

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international peace prize awarded annually by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (English: ''German Publishers and Booksellers Association''), which runs the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award ceremony is held in the Paulskirche in ...

Günter Kunert Günter Kunert (; 6 March 1929 – 21 September 2019) was a German writer. Based in East Berlin, he published poetry from 1947, supported by Bertold Brecht. After he had signed a petition against the deprivation of the citizenship of Wolf Biermann ...

Siegfried Lenz Siegfried Lenz (; 17 March 19267 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's bi ...

Christoph Meckel Christoph Meckel (12 June 1935 – 29 January 2020) was a German author and graphic artist. He received awards for his works which connect illustrations with the written text, sometimes texts by others. Life Born in Berlin, Meckel spent his yo ...

and

James Krüss James Krüss (31 May 1926 – 2 August 1997) was a German writer of children's and picture books, illustrator, poet, dramatist, scriptwriter, translator, and collector of children's poems and folk songs. For his contribution as a children's writ ...

were first published in Muschelhaufen. Artists like

Elke Rehder Elke Rehder (born 1953) is a German artist living in Barsbüttel Germany. Life and work Elke Rehder studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London (1979–80). During that time she was predominantly active as a sculptor, where she creat ...

Clemens Weiss Clemens Weiss (born 1955) is a German artist living in the United States. Youth and Education Clemens Weiss grew up in the Region of the Lower Rhine Valley where he received technical training in mechanical engineering from 1970 to 1973. Fr ...

used to work for the magazine. With great care Martin studied Werner Helwig's books and wrote essential essays on his work. Martin's songs are well-known and often sung in the groups of the

German Youth Movement The German Youth Movement (german: Die deutsche Jugendbewegung) is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement ...

, the German

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and the German

Scout Movement Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

. One of those is the popular ''Wenn der Abend naht'' (''When the evening comes'') . As youth leader for many years Martin led groups to whose members he was known as ''Mac''. Up to this day he participates in the Deutsche Waldjugend activities and has written articles for several magazines, e.g. ''der eisbrecher'',Freelance writer 1988 ff, imprint of the journal ''scouting'' and ''Fang''. Two CDs with Martin's songs were edited by the Waldjugend. Erik Martin was married. He had two sons and lived in Viersen-

Dülken Dülken is a town located in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany. It has a population of about 20,000. It is a borough of the municipality of Viersen. It received its town charter in 1364 thus being the oldest part of the municipality of Vi ...

Publications

* ''Macs Fahrtenbuch'' (1971) * ''Vom Singen in den Gruppen'' (1981) * ''Waldläuferheft für Nordlandfahrer und Liederfreunde'' (1982) * ''Liederblätter deutscher Jugend. Vol. 27'' (1984). * ''Fjellwanderung''. Novel. (1986). * ''Das kleine Grenzwaldbuch'' (= ''Muschelhaufen''. Vol. 24/25-1987/88). * ''Werner Helwig''. Special edition Muschelhaufen. Vol. 26A (1991). * ''Die schwierigen Jahre''. Biography. (1995). * ''Etwas andere Geschichten zum Vorlesen'' (1996) * ''Wenn der Abend naht. Lieder von Mac''. CD. (1996 and 2000) * ''Heut wird die Hexe verbrannt''. CD. (2006)

Notes

External links

*
Official website

Official website ''Muschelhaufen''

Iris Linke: ''Mac (Erik Martin) – Leben und Lieder''
(

MS Word Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includin ...

; 74 kB)
Erik Martin: ''Wenn der Abend naht''. Original version, sung by the Waldjugend

Erik Martin: ''Wenn der Abend naht''. Song versions on YouTube

in:

NRW Literatur im Netz NRW Literatur im Netz is a German internet database with short biographies of persons who have lived or worked in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Westphälische Literaturbüro (Westphalian office for literature) in Unna operates the biggest database ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Erik 20th-century German novelists 21st-century German novelists German songwriters German schoolteachers German conservationists People from Viersen 1936 births 2017 deaths

Life and work

Publications

Notes

Further reading

External links