Katja Behrens (born Katja Oswald; 18 December 1942 – 6 March 2021) was a German author and translator of Jewish descent.

Biography

Behrens was the daughter of Josef Oswald, a photographer, and Leni Oswald, an author and journalist. With her mother and grandmother, she went into hiding in the home of a Catholic priest in Austria during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and returned to Germany after the war. Behrens began working as a translator in 1960, translating works by authors such as

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

and

Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...

into German. She lived in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

from 1968 to 1970. From 1973 to 1978, she was a reader for publisher

Luchterhand Literaturverlag The Luchterhand Literaturverlag is a German publisher of contemporary literature based in Munich. It was founded in 1924, and was acquired by Random House in 2001. Luchterhand is considered one of the most prestigious publishers in Germany. Public ...

, moving to

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. Behrens has travelled to India, north Africa, the United States and South America. She was a member of the

PEN Centre Germany PEN Centre Germany is part of the worldwide association of writers founded in London in 1921, now known as PEN International. One of over 140 autonomous PEN centres around the world, PEN Centre Germany is based in Darmstadt, Hesse. Work PEN Ce ...

and of the German authors' association . Behrens has been a visiting professor at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. She has been awarded the by the

Festival of German-Language Literature The Festival of German-Language Literature (german: Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, links=no) is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of ...

, the , the

Thaddäus-Troll-Preis Thaddäus-Troll-Preis is a literary prize awarded by the ''Förderkreis deutscher Schriftsteller in Baden-Württemberg'', an organization that supports and sponsors writers in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The prize is awarded annually ...

, the stipend from the

Villa Massimo Villa Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo ( it, Accademia Tedesca Roma Villa Massimo), is a German cultural institution in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo. The fellowship of the German Academy in Rom ...

, the

Mainzer Stadtschreiber The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award. It is awarded by ZDF, 3sat and the city of Mainz and was founded in 1984. The award is endowed with €12,500. Additionally the laureate receives the right to l ...

by the

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

and the city of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, the

George-Konell-Preis George-Konell-Preis was a literary prize of Hesse. Winners * 1998: Gudrun Pausewang * 2000: Stephan Kaluza * 2002: Katja Behrens * 2004: Ricarda Junge * 2006: Peter Kurzeck Peter Kurzeck (June 10, 1943 – November 25, 2013) was a German ...

and recognition by the

Deutsche Schillerstiftung The Deutsche Schillerstiftung (German Schiller Foundation), headquartered in Weimar, is the oldest private foundation for the assistance of writers in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Cent ...

. In her writings, she explores the limitations imposed on Jewish women in Germany while accepting that life elsewhere might not be any better. While her literary universe is centred on Germany, she extends her observations to the world at large. Her work also draws on her own experiences to explore the relationships between women of different generations. She married Peter Behrens in 1960. The couple had a daughter and later divorced in 1971.

Selected works

* ''Chilenische Erzählungen'' ("Chilean Stories"), as editor (1977) * ''Die weiße Frau'' ("The White Woman"), short stories (1978) * ''Frauenbriefe der Romantik'' ("Letters by Women of the Romantic Period"), as editor (1981) * ''Die dreizehnte Fee'' ("The Thirteenth Fairy"), novel (1983) * ''Abschiedsbriefe'' ("Farewell Letters"), as editor (1987) * ''Im Wasser tanzen'', novel (1990) * ''Salomo und die anderen—Jüdische Geschichten'' ("Salomo and the Others—Jewish Stories") (1993) * ''Zorro—Im Jahr des Pferdes'' ("Zorro––In the Year of the Horse"), children's story (1999)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behrens, Katja 1942 births 2021 deaths German women writers German translators 20th-century German Jews English–German translators