Helga M. Novak (

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

for Maria Karlsdottir; 8 September 1935 – 24 December 2013) was a German-Icelandic writer. Novak was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. She grew up in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, studied

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. She resigned from the East German Socialist Unity Party (

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

) in 1957 in protest for the

Soviet invasion of Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, which had taken place in 1956. She moved to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

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 ("inoffizieller Mitarbeiter") for the East German

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

. 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 The Stadtschreiber von Bergen ('City clerk of Bergen') is an annual German literary award. The prize money is €20,000 with one year of free living in the town clerk's house in Bergen-Enkheim, Frankfurt, "An der Oberpforte 4". It was the first St ...

* 1985

Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis is a literary prize of Germany. The Deutsche Literaturfonds (German Literature Fund) based in Darmstadt has been awarding the prize since 1983. The prize money was raised in 2019 from €20,000 to €30,000. In addi ...

* 1989

Roswitha Prize The Roswitha Prize (german: Roswitha-Preis) is the oldest German language prize for literature that is given solely to women. The Roswitha-Medal has been given almost yearly since 1973 by the city of Bad Gandersheim. In 1998 it received its moder ...

* 1989

Ernst Reuter Prize The Ernst Reuter Prize (''Ernst-Reuter-Preis'') is a German national prize for audio plays (''Hörspiel'') and radio documentation about the divided Germany, named after Ernst Reuter. It was awarded from 1959 to 1991 by the Bundesministerium für ...

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

References

External links

*
Entry at Literary Encyclopedia

(literaturfestival.com)

(Andrea Galgano - Helga M. Novak. L'esilio che trema) 1935 births 2013 deaths Writers from Berlin People from the Province of Brandenburg German expatriates in Poland Icelandic people of German descent People of the Stasi East German women German women writers German-language poets International Writing Program alumni 20th-century German women {{Germany-writer-stub