Helen Meier
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Helen Meier | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 April 1929 Mels, Switzerland |
| Died | 13 February 2021 (aged 91) Trogen, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Writer |
Helen Meier (17 April 1929 – 13 February 2021) was a Swiss writer and teacher. She wrote eight collections of short stories and three novels, and was awarded a number of prizes, including the Rauris Literature Prize, the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung prize twice, the Droste-Preis, and Culture Prizes from the Kantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
Meier was born in Mels in 1929.[1] Meier attended a Lehrerseminar in Rorschach and subsequently became a primary schoolteacher.[1] After working in England, France, and Italy, she attended the University of Fribourg, studying languages and education.[2] She subsequently worked for the Swiss Red Cross and as a special education teacher in Heiden.[1] She began writing at the age of 55 in 1984, when she submitted a short story, Lichtempfindlich, for the Ingrid Bachmann Competition at the Festival of German-Language Literature.[3] The story won the Ernst-Willner Prize and became part of her first published collection, Trockenwiese.[1][2] Meier went on to publish regularly, and wrote eight collections of short stories and three novels.[4] She was awarded a number of prizes, including the Rauris Literature Prize, the Schweizerische Schillerstiftung twice, the Droste-Preis, and Culture Prizes from the Kantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.[2][1][4]
Meier's last publication was a set of fairytales she had written as a young woman, The White Bird, the Hat, and the Princess, which was published in 2019.[3]
Helen Meier died in a rest home in Trogen on her birthday, 13 February 2021, at the age of 91, after suffering from dementia.[1][3]
