30 November 2020

Akademie der Künste receives the Elke Erb Archive

This year’s Büchner Prize winner Elke Erb has entrusted her literary estate to the Akademie der Künste archives. Erb is one of the most unconventional poets of her generation and at the same time a discussion partner for numerous younger authors. From her first volume of poetry, Gutachten (1975), to her Gedichtverdacht published in 2019, her texts constantly open up new perspectives on the world and language itself. Erb’s processual texts have their own unique form and oscillate between lyricism and commentary; her poems are noted for their linguistic reflection at the highest level, yet remain wonderfully concrete.

In addition to manuscripts, the Elke Erb Archive includes wide-ranging correspondence, including that with Kurt Drawert, Róža Domašcyna, Sarah Kirsch, Wulf Kirsten, Friederike Mayröcker, Frank-Wolf Matthies, Ales Rasanau, Thea Richter, Lutz Seiler and Ulf Stolterfoht. Also included are biographical records and material on readings, prizes, translations, publishing house reports and publications, as well as texts by authors as Sascha Anderson, Stefan Döring, Jan Faktor, Uwe Kolbe, Leonhard Lorek, Bert Papenfuss and Rainer Schedlinski along with nonofficial magazines and samizdat publications such as Ariadnefabrik, Verwendung, Leitwolf, Kontext, Mikado, Schaden, u.s.w., Caligo and others.

Elke Erb, born in 1938 in Scherbach (Eifel), studied German, Slavic languages, history and education in Halle/Saale. After graduating as a teacher in 1963, she first worked for the Mitteldeutscher Verlag. She has been a freelance writer since 1966. Her work comprises poetry and short prose. In addition, she has published numerous translations and adaptations and worked as an editor and reader. Erb played an important role in the literary subculture of East Germany and frequently published her texts in unofficial literary journals. In 1985, Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Cologne published an anthology co-edited with Sascha Anderson and entitled Berührung ist nur eine Randerscheinung. Neue Literatur aus der DDR, whose publication had been rejected by the Aufbau-Verlag. After 1989, Erb scrutinised the new political and social conditions just as critically as she had previously observed the reality of life in East Germany. She has been a member of the Akademie der Künste since 2012. A list of her numerous works and awards is published on the Akademie der Künste website.

For enquiries: Dr. Gabriele Radecke, Head of the Literature Archives,
Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-32 00, radecke@adk.de