Monique Laederach (16 May 1938 – 17 March 2004) was a Swiss writer and translator. The daughter of Jean-Rodolphe Laederach and Hilde Maeder, she was born in

Les Brenets Les Brenets is a former municipality in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2021 the former municipality of Les Brenets merged into Le Locle. History Les Brenets is first mentioned in 1325 as ''chiez le Bruignet''. Geograph ...

and studied music in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, going on to pursue the study of literature at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

and the

University of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking university based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law and eco ...

. During this time, she also taught

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. She published poems, novels, radio plays, plays for the theatre and literary criticism. Laederach also translated works by German-language writers such as

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...

, Rilke, Erika Burkart and

Adolf Muschg Adolf Muschg (born 13 May 1934) is a Swiss writer and professor of literature. Muschg was a member of the Gruppe Olten. Biography Adolf Muschg was born in Zollikon, canton of Zürich, Switzerland. He studied German studies, English studies a ...

into French. From 1961 to 1973, she was married to the Swiss writer . Laederach participated in literary conferences in Great Britain, Scandinavia, the United States, Canada and Mexico. She was a member of the

Gruppe Olten The Gruppe Olten (Olten Group) was a club of left-wing Swiss writers who convened at Olten's "Bahnhofbuffet" (Swiss expression for a railway station restaurant) located in the canton of Solothurn in the Swiss plateau. It was founded in the aforeme ...

. A complete collection of her poems was published in 2003. She received the in 1977, 1982 and 2000. Laederach died in Peseux at the age of 65.

Selected works

* ''L'Etain la source'', poetry (1970) * ''Pénélope'', poetry (1971) * ''La femme séparée'', novel (1982) * ''Trop petits pour Dieu'', novel (1986) * ''Les noces de Cana'', novel (1996) * ''Je n'ai pas dansé dans l'île'', novel (2000)

References

1938 births 2004 deaths Swiss poets in French Swiss women novelists Swiss translators 20th-century translators Swiss women poets 20th-century Swiss poets 20th-century Swiss novelists 21st-century Swiss novelists 21st-century Swiss women writers 20th-century Swiss women writers {{Switzerland-writer-stub