Helge Timmerberg

Helge Timmerberg 2012

Helge Timmerberg (born February 13, 1952 in Dorfitter , Hessen ) is a German journalist and writer .

Life

Timmerberg grew up in Bad Oeynhausen and left school with secondary school leaving certificate. He then hitchhiked from Bielefeld to India for four months . At the age of 17 he decided to become a journalist in an Indian ashram in the Himalayas .

An inner voice in the Ashram led to his enlightenment and told him:

"Go home. And become a journalist. "

- Helge Timmerberg : Shiva Moon. Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 2006, 2nd edition, p. 132

After his return, he began an internship at the Neue Westfälische Zeitung in Bielefeld in 1972 , where he later became a local editor. He was transferred to Minden by the newspaper .

In 1974 Helge Timmerberg opened the first vegetarian restaurant called “Mandala” in Bielefeld . He then worked for the Braunschweiger Zeitung and Stern . During his time at Hamburger Stern , he discovered the book Fear and Terror in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson , whose gonzo journalism merging facts and fiction made a lasting impression on him. Helge Timmerberg then traveled and researched as a journalist for Tempo , Wiener as well as Playboy and Bunte , for which he wrote his most important reports in a subjective narrative style. For this he moved his desk to the “Hotel Riviera” in Havana, Cuban, and only kept contact with the publisher via fax . He was finally dismissed by Bunte editor-in-chief Franz Josef Wagner and returned to Hamburg.

Timmerberg's working style is based on gonzo journalism and new journalism . In 2007 he went on a world tour. He circled the world within 80 days, following roughly the route of Phileas Fogg from the novel Journey around the earth in 80 days by Jules Verne .

Timmerberg lives in Vienna , Berlin and St. Gallen , he also lived temporarily in Marrakech .

Works

• In the palace of the glass swans. In a detour to India. Illustrated by Mirta Navas. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985, ISBN 3-499-17528-2 (= travel differently without borders) . - New editions with the subtitle Through the South of India by bike . Piper, Munich 2014 and 2016 (paperback).
• The Palestinian kerchief . In: Georg Diez (ed.): That was the FRG . Goldmann, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-442-15153-8 , pp. 127-132.
• Tigers don't eat yogis. Stories on the go. With a foreword by Sibylle Berg . Solibro Verlag , Münster 2001, ISBN 3-932927-16-8 . (= Solibrooriginär , Volume 1)
• Snow King. My life as a drug boss (with Ronald Miehling ). Rowohlt, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-87134-473-7 .
• Yogi Kashinath . In: East. Around the world in 26 stories. Blumenbar , Munich 2003, ISBN 3-936738-02-5 , pp. 297-308.
• Timmerberg's ABC of Travel . With 21 cartoons by Peter Puck . Solibro, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-932927-20-6 (= Timmerbergs ABC , Volume 1).
• Timmerberg's animal life. With Frank Zauritz (photos), foreword by Heinz Sielmann . Solibro, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-932927-28-1 (= Timmerbergs ABC , Volume 2 - special volume).
• Shiva moon. A trip through India. Rowohlt, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-87134-541-5 .
• The house of talking animals. A fable. Rowohlt, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-87134-577-7 .
• Timmerbergs Singles ABC / Timmerbergs Relationship ABC. Double volume, Solibro, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-932927-35-5 .
• Around the world in 80 days . Rowohlt, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-87134-593-7 .
• The Jesus from the sex shop. Stories on the go . Rowohlt, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-87134-636-1 .
• African Queen. An adventure . Rowohlt, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-87134-683-5 ; Paperback: Reinbek 2013, ISBN 978-3-499-63026-2 .
• The fairytale aunt, the sultan, my harem and me . Malik, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-89029-774-3 .
• The red Olivetti. My pretty wild life between Bielefeld, Havana and the Himalayas . Piper, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-492-05755-4 .
• The streets of the living. Stories from the road . Piper, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-89029-486-5 .
• The mantra against fear or ready for everything . Piper, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-89029-453-7 .
• Reinhold Würth : The Lord of the Screws , Piper, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-492-07003-4 .

Quotes

“I've found that the best stories are always behind fear. If I was afraid of AIDS in Africa in the mid-80s or of the plague in India in the mid-90s, I think so. Then I was so scared to go there beforehand. When I feel fear, then I know: Hey, go through, it'll be cool behind it. "

swell

• Radio interview with Helge Timmerberg on page no longer available , search in web archives: radioeins
• Fabian Kretschmer: "Reality is my red thread" . In: derstandard.at of November 3, 2012, accessed on April 19, 2017.

Web links

• Literature by and about Helge Timmerberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Vita of Helge Timmerberg at Solibro Verlag
• On and on , Helge Timmerberg, Die Zeit, 1999 (chapter "On the run" from "Tigers don't eat yogis" )
• Conversation with Helge Timmerberg, Weltwach , February 2018

Interviews

• Helge Timmerberg . In: Die Zeit , No. 47/2004, interview
• Fabian Kretschmer: "Reality is my red thread" . In: tagesspiegel.de , November 3, 2012, accessed on April 19, 2017.

Reviews

• Pretty cold, the whole thing. But not cool . In: Die Zeit , No. 46/2005, Helge Timmerberg on Tom Wolfe
• Lightning strike, lucky . In: Die Zeit , No. 12/2006, Helge Timmerberg on Charles Bukowski
• God is a gentleman from Tokyo . In: Die Zeit , No. 40/2006, Helge Timmerberg on Haruki Murakami
• including "African Queen - An Adventure" by Helge Timmerberg, ( MP3 ; 41.9 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Excerpt from the Medina . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , April 5, 2009.
2. ↑ Radio interview with Helge Timmerberg (SWR1) on swr.de, heard on June 25, 2009 (offline).