Ingrid Bachér (pen name for Ingrid Erben, born 24 September 1930 in
Rostock
Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
) is a German writer, a former member of the
Gruppe 47 and former president of the
PEN
PEN may refer to:
* (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI)
* PEN International, a worldwide association of writers
** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International
** PEN America, located ...
Germany.
Biography
Ingrid Bachér is a great-granddaughter of
Theodor Storm.
During her childhood she lived in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, before moving to
Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
during the last years of Second World War at her grandparents' house. After having studied at the
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger College or university school of music, universities of music in Germany.
It was founded in 1950 as ''Staatliche Hochschule für Musik'' (Public college of music) on the base of t ...
, she started working as a journalist from 1949 on.
During the 1950s she travelled to
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, Central and South America and started writing travelogues and other prose. From 1958 onwards, she had been one of the few female members of the
Gruppe 47,
the most important German writers' group.
From 1960 until 1967 she lived in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, first as a scholar of the
Villa Massimo and then as a journalist. She then went to live in
München
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Krefeld
Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...
and finally moved to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. She has been married to the artist
Ulrich Erben since 1966 and is a mother of three children.
She has also been a member of the
Verband deutscher Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller (union of German authors) since 1971. From 1982 until 1996 she had been a member of the
PEN Centre Germany, whose president she was shortly from 1995 until 1996, when she resigned from the presidency following the debate over the union of the
West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
and
East German
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
PEN centres.
Ingrid Bachér has been writing books for young people, travelogues, and novels, as well as radio and television plays for the public broadcasting institutions such as the
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
or the
SWF.
Prizes
* 1960: Scholarship at the
Villa Massimo, Rome
* 1961: Award of sponsorship of the city of Düsseldorf
* 1964: Berlin-Scholarship of the Kulturkreises im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie
* 1986: Literary Prize of the GEDOK
* 1989: Kunstpreis Düsseldorf der Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf
* 1995: Ferdinand-Lange-Kulturpreis
Selected works
* ''Lasse Lar oder Die Kinderinsel''. Story, Wiesbaden, 1958.
* ''Ein Weihnachtsabend''. Ein Spiel für die Bühne nach Dickens. Youth play. Premiere:
Ernst Deutsch Theater
Ernst Deutsch Theater is a theatre in Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the Europe ...
Hamburg, 1.12.1957, Text: Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1958.
* ''Schöner Vogel Quetzal''. Novel, Wiesbaden, 1959.
* ''Karibische Fahrt''. Travelogue. With photos by Herbert List, Helene Hoppenot, Fritz Henle, Karl Helbig et al., München, 1961.
* ''Das Karussell des Einhorns''. Radio drama,
BR/
SWF 1962, Text: Zürich, 1979.
* ''Um fünf, die Stunde des Klavierspielers''. Radio drama, SWF, 1963.
* ''Die Straße''. Television drama,
ZDF
ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
, 1963.
* ''Tiger – Tiger''. Television drama, ZDF, 1964.
* ''Marie Celeste''. Radio drama, BR 1964.
* ''Ich und ich''. Novel, Frankfurt am Main 1964.
* ''Das Kinderhaus''. Youth book. Illustrations by Lilo Fromm, Zürich, 1965.
* ''Die Ausgrabung''. Radio drama, , SWF, 1965.
* ''Lübeck: Die Bengstraße''. Radio drama,
DLF, 1966.
* ''Ein Tag der Rückkehr''. Radio drama, SWF, 1966.
* ''Winterliches Rom''. Radio drama, DLF, 1967.
* ''Das Fest der Niederlage''. Broadcast story, DLF, 1967.
* ''Ein Schiff aus Papier''. Radio drama,
SDR, 1967.
* ''Mein Kapitän ist tot''. Television drama, ZDF, 1968.
* ''Siesta''. Television drama, ZDF, 1971.
* ''Verletzung oder Unterweisung für eine Tochter''. Television drama, ZDF, 1972.
* ''Rekonstruktionen einiger Augenblicke aus dem Leben meines Freundes B. am Tag vor seinem Tod''. Television drama, ZDF, 1973.
* ''Erzähl mir nichts!'' Youth book. Illustrations: Bernd Jansen, Weinheim, 1974.
* ''Der Besuch''. Youth drama. Premiere: Hannover Theater des Kindes, Juni 1974.
* ''Gespenster sieht man nicht''. Youth book. Illustrations by Gottfried Wiegand, Zürich, 1975, Bedburg, 1997.
* ''Das war doch immer so'. Merkbuch für Mädchen und Jungen. Geschichten, Beispiele, Texte, Zitate, Bilder und ein kleines Lexikon zum Thema Emanzipation. With illustrations by Marie Marcks and photos by Tai Lüdicke, Weinheim, 1976, 1991.
* ''Unterwegs zum Beginn''. Stories, Krefeld, 1978.
* ''Morgen werde ich fliegen''. Youth book, Zürich, 1979.
* ''Das Paar''. Novel, Hamburg, 1980.
* ''Woldsen oder Es wird keine Ruhe geben''. Novel, Hamburg, 1982.
* ''Die Tarotspieler''. Novel, Hamburg 1986.
* ''Der Fußgänger''. Television drama, o.O. 1987.
* ''Mutter Ey''. Screenplay / Television drama, Köln 1988.
* ''Assisi verlassen''. Story. With six graphics in colour by Ulrich Erben, Düsseldorf 1993.
* ''Schliemanns Zuhörer''. Story, Düsseldorf 1995.
* ''Der Zuhörer''. Radio drama,
SWR 1999.
* ''Gewissen gegen Gewalt''. For an , Wuppertal, 1999 (together with
Ignatz Bubis and Peter Finkelgruen).
* ''Sarajewo '96''. Story. With pictorial signs by Günther Uecker, Düsseldorf 2001.
* ''Sieh da, das Alter''. Ein Tagebuch der Annäherung, Köln 2003.
* ''Der Liebesverrat''. Story, Köln 2005.
References
External links
Düsseldorfer Autorinnen – Ingrid Bachér Institut für Germanistik, Philosophische Fakultät der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
in:
NRW Literatur im Netz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacher, Ingrid
1930 births
Living people
People from Rostock
People from the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Writers from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
German women novelists
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg