Guy Helminger

Guy Helminger was born in 1963 in Esch / Alzette (Luxemburg) and studied German Literature and Philosophie in Luxemburg, Heidelberg and Cologne.

Since 1985 he has been living in Cologne and working as a writer.

2012 poetics lecturship at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Together with his colleague Navid Kermani Guy Helminger presents since 12 years the „Literary Salon International“ in Cologne. From 2010-2012 he presented a cultural show on Luxemburg TV and from 2012-2017 a show called DNA.

2002 he received the Förderpreis für Jugend-Theater des Landes Baden-Württemberg, the same year the  Prix Servais  for his book „Rost“ and in 2004 the 3sat-Preis. His hometown honored him in 2006 with the Prix du mérite culturel de la ville d’Esch. In 2015 he got the postpoetry prize and 2016 the Dresdner Lyrikpreis for his poetry.

 

Prose:

Die Allee der Zähne. Aufzeichnungen und Fotos aus Iran. (Notes from Iran) capybarabooks 2018

Neubrasilien. (Novel) Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt 2010

Eine Tasse für Nofretete Nilpferd. Mit Zeichnungen von Manuela Olten. (Book for children) Bloomsbury/Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2010

Morgen war schon. (Novel) Suhrkamp 2007

Die Ruhe der Schlammkröte. (Novel) Kiepenheuer & Witsch 2007

Etwas fehlt immer. (Short Stories) Suhrkamp 2005

Rost. (Short Stories) Editions Phi 2001

 

Poetry:

Die Tagebücher der Tannen. Edition Rugerup 2018

Nördlich der Ferne. Mit Serigraphien von Robert Brandy. redfoxpress 2017

Libellenterz. Gesammelte Gedichte. Editions Phi 2010

Ver- wanderung. Editions Phi 2002

Leib eigener Leib. Editions Phi 2000

Entfernungen (in Zellophan). Editions Phi 1998

Die Gegenwartsspringer. Verlag am Schluechthaus 1986

 

Radioplays:

45 Umdrehungen. Kurzhörspielserie. WDR 2016/2017

Fischsuppe. WDR 2011

Frau Gantner. WDR 2010

Rekonstruktion Kresch. WDR 2005

Fluggeräte. WDR 2003

Nachbarn. HR 2002

Wasser.  WDR 2002

Morgen ist Regen. WDR 2001

5 Sekunden Leben. WDR 2001

Habicht. SR 1999

Theater:

Guten Morgen, Ihr Völker. Premiere at the Kasemattentheater 2017

Performance. Premiere at the Théatre du Centaure 2016

Venezuela. 3 Plays. Capybara Books 2015

Das Leben hält bis zuletzt Überraschungen bereit. Premiere at the Grand Théatre de Luxembourg 2011 (2012 staging in Vienna)

Venezuela. Premiere in London 2003  (Oberon Books, London 2003; German Original: Editions Phi 2004; France: Editions Théâtrales 2008)

(Staging in Luxemburg (2004), Vienna (2004) und New York (2005)…)

Screenplays:

7 Screenplays for the Luxemburg Sitcom „Weemseesdet“ Luxemburg 2011

Poetics:

Guy Helminger. Ein Sprachanatom bei der Arbeit. Hrsg. v. Rolf Parr, Thomas Ernst und Claude D. Conter. Synchron Verlag, Heidelberg 2014

Editor:

Hällewull. Anthologie of Luxemburg Literature. Publishing House of the Slovenien Writers Association. Edited together with Vesna Kondrič-Horvat. Ljubljana 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A morning with a cold

drags itself along the timber walkway

in Harlingen rows across the sea in

hopes of reaching the horizon

soon. The black-headed gulls

slice sails on the masts When

the boats leave harbour the sky

will consist of few remnants of

fabric and we shall hold on to

the fishing rods and peer inside

where the dead have been robbed

of their bones Question: What would

you take with you from a

flooded house? Answer:

The flood

But meanwhile we are rich enough

and have instructed the oysters

to produce pennies in place of pearls

Translation: Delphine Lettau

 

 

 

 

 

Hesitation space

In the night there is this changing

moment of abiding

when rock records the fragments

of the universe

The mountains sweat forth the snow

that hardens in the morning

at sight of the valleys

And the echoes replicate around the

parallels of the light avalanches dark

ski slopes on the

descending route to photosynthesis

One of these changeable photographs

shows the fir trees’ growth as

black Christmas

for their trunks are worn down by

our breath

Whereas the mountains know ways to

protect themselves draw the wings

of millennia over their grey nest

Translation: Delphine Lettau

 

 

 

 

Timeless matters

The burial opened the gates

and for the length of a room we saw

the walls of time. The dead man lay

on a table of compacted

minutes and we understood:

no-one’s days will run out

Under ground the moles

were folding the night into

black pages, some into

fitted sheets for the sagging

rear view of the forest floors

But the term stood as a fir tree

next to the mortuary and slowly

segued into a birch tree

Translation: Delphine Lettau