Martina Hefter (born 11 June 1965 in Pfronten) is a German author and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist. Her works have received numerous literature prizes both for poetry and for prose.

Life

Martina Hefter initially trained as a gymnastics teacher with a focus on dance. She then did additional training in contemporary performance dance in Munich and Berlin. Afterwards, she studied at the

German Institute for Literature The German Institute for Literature (German: ''Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig'', DLL) is a part of Leipzig University and offers university education for writers. It was founded in 1955 under the name Johannes R. Becher-Institut, at that time ...

in Leipzig where she lives since 1997. She works as a performance artist and author combining dance and language elements. After her debut novel ''Junge Hunde'' (2001), she published two more prose works before turning to poetry and publishing several poetry collections with the publisher Kookbooks. In 2024, she published her first novel in 16 years titled ''Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?''. Critics praised its poetic language. According to the Jury of the

German Book Prize The German Book Prize () is awarded annually, in October, by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association () to the best new German-language novel of the year. The books, published in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, are nominated by their ...

, the novel "navigates between melancholy and euphoria, reflecting on trust and deception".

''Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?'' (2024)

Hefters Novel ''Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?'' (2024) tells the story of Juno, a dancer who lives with her sick husband Jupiter. At night, she escapes into the world of love-scamming. Juno uses online-connections to create an alternative identity and escape her everyday life. She forms an unexpected connection with the scammer Benu. The book has been awarded the German Book Prize 2024.

Awards

* 2002: Fellowship of the Kulturstiftung Sachsen * 2003: Literaturfellowship of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

* 2005: Advancement award Lessing-Preis des Freistaates Sachsen * 2005: Hermann-Lenz-Stipendium * 2005: Nominated for

Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis The Festival of German-Language Literature () is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of awards are given, the major one being the Ingeborg B ...

* 2008:

Merano Poetry Prize The Merano Poetry Prize (German: Lyrikpreis Meran) is an international literary prize for German-language poetry that was founded by Alfred Gruber (1929–1998), a South Tyrolian catholic priest and writer. The biennial competition was established ...

* 2018: Lyrikpreis München * 2024:

German Literature Fund Grand Prize Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis is a literary prize of Germany. The Deutscher Literaturfonds (German Literature Fund) based in Darmstadt has been awarding the prize since 1983. The prize money was raised in 2019 from €20,000 to €30,000. In addi ...

* 2024: Literature prize of the state capital of Hesse

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

* 2024:

for '' Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?''

Works

* ''Junge Hunde. Roman.'' Alexander Fest, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-8286-0166-9. * ''Zurück auf Los. Roman.'' Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-841-8. * ''Noch auf dem Bahnsteig'' ...'','' read at

Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis 2005 The Festival of German-Language Literature () is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of awards are given, the major one being the Ingeborg B ...

full script on the website of ORF
* ''Die Küsten der Berge. Roman.'' Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0330-0. * ''Nach den Diskotheken. Gedichte'' (= ''Reihe Lyrik.'' Bd. 17). kookbooks, Idstein 2010, ISBN 978-3-937445-41-0. * ''Vom Gehen und Stehen. Ein Handbuch'' (= ''Reihe Lyrik.'' Bd. 30). kookbooks, Idstein 2013, ISBN 978-3-937445-55-7. * ''Ungeheuer. Stücke/Gedichte'' (= ''Reihe Lyrik.'' Bd. 46). kookbooks, Idstein 2016, ISBN 978-3-937445-77-9. * ''Es könnte auch schön werden'' (= ''Reihe Lyrik.'' Bd. 57). kookbooks, Idstein 2018, ISBN 978-3-937445-90-8. * ''In die Wälder gehen, Holz für ein Bett klauen.'' kookbooks, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-948336-10-3. * '' Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?'' Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2024, ISBN 978-3-608-98826-0.

Literature (a selection)

* *

Josef Zierden Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura and is the only company in Japan spec ...

: ''Martina Hefter''. In: Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur, Stand: 1 January 2022.

External links

*
Martina Hefter
at the

Munzinger-Archiv Munzinger-Archiv is a German Publishing, publisher and online encyclopedia based in the Baden-Württemberg city of Ravensburg. The content of the archive includes entries about people in politics, business, culture, sport, music and society, abou ...

(beginning of the article readable for free) *
Dictionary entry of Martina Hefter in the dictionary Literaturwissenschaft
at literaturkritik.de
Review of ''Vom Gehen und Stehen''
in the Signaturen-Magazin (2013)
Video portrait of Martina Hefter at the German Book Prize
(in English)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hefter, Martina Living people 1965 births German women writers 21st-century German women writers German women poets 21st-century German poets German Book Prize winners