Jo Micovich

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Jo Micovich (born May 9, 1926 in Barmen ; † July 8, 2008 in Wuppertal ) was a German writer , poet , radio play author and puppeteer .

Life

Jo Michovich initially wanted to become an actress and trained as an actor. Due to the post-war circumstances and the fact that the female role subjects of the time did not allow her the desired performances, Micovich decided to train as a puppeteer at the Alfredo Bannenberg Theater . In 1950 she founded her own travel theater , the Vagantenbühne , Puppentheater JM , with which she was on the road for almost thirty years. She played pieces from her own pen, including discussion games and traffic-pedagogical scenes, primarily in kindergartens and elementary schools . With her puppet theater, Micovich was able to play those characters and content that she would have been denied performance as an actress.

In 1977 she published her first book, Das 1x1 des Handpuppenspiel , which - although long out of print - is still considered one of the best textbooks on this subject in puppeteer circles.

In the following years, however, Micovich distanced himself more and more from puppetry and turned more intensively to literary work. She began to write one-act plays (first premieres in 1977 or 1978) and poems (first book publication in 1979).

An important part of her work also included individual publications in literary magazines and anthologies . In addition, however, she began an extensive activity in the field of further training and promotion of young literary talents in the form of workshops, literary workshops and seminars, among other things in institutions of the adult education center and family education centers as well as in penal institutions . Her main sphere of activity was her place of residence in Wuppertal , but she also repeatedly withdrew to Cadaqués .

From the 1980s onwards, several of her radio plays appeared as WDR productions in Cologne . She was editor at na und autorenverlag , Mainz , until 1982 , and at Edition Cormoran , Wuppertal, and Karussell, Hefte für Literatur until 1983 .

Micovich has received several awards for her writing.

Jo Micovich died in her sleep on July 8, 2008 in her apartment in Wuppertal. Micovich was literally active as a poet until the last day.

Works (selection)

Books

• The 1x1 of the hand puppet show (non-fiction book), Wuppertal 1977.
• Gap in the baffle (poems), Mainz 1979.
• The unknown Switzerland (prose collage), Mainz 1980.
• Leaning against the crash (poems on the 50th anniversary of Federico García Lorca's death ), Wuppertal 1985.
• Kaspertheater (booklet of the series On Play and Celebration ), Weinheim 1990
• I see you because I hear you (poems and experience reports about "writing in jail"), Ed .: Pedagogical Service of JVA Wuppertal 1997
• Nobody escaped. A youth in Hitler Germany 1943-45 , Wuppertal 2008.

Anthologies (selection)

• Juhre, Arnim (Red.): Almanac for Literature and Theology No. 8 (Subject: Fear), Wuppertal 1974.
• Junge, Regine (Ed.): Erdulden - roben - resisting , Aachen 1990.
• Jo Micovich and Nina Liesegang: DC - AC , Wuppertal 1998.

Plays

• The 60th parallel (1977)
• The Spider (first performance 1978, Kammerspiele Hamm )
• Weiss blütenweiss (world premiere 1978, Kammerspiele Hamm)
• Learning to speak (first performance 1979, Hamm youth theater)
• Shish kebab fetches wasp (first performance 1979, studio stage of the Westphalian Wilhelms University , Münster )
• Strawberries (1980)

Radio plays

• Train ride (WDR, 1986)
• Breidenbach (WDR, 1988)
• Thoughts are free (WDR, 1989)
• Cranger Kirmes (WDR, 1989)
• Catalonia 1925 ( RIAS , 1992)

Prizes and awards

• Prize of the "Hauni Foundation" for The 60th Latitude ( Thalia Theater , Hamburg , 1977)
• Honorable mention at the "Joseph Dietzgen Prize" for strawberries ( Hennef (Sieg) , 1980)
• Prize for Literature Prize Ruhr Area for Cranger Kirmes ( Essen and Bochum , 1988)
• "Walter Hasenclever Prize of the City of Aachen " for prose (Aachen, 1990)
• "Heinz Risse Prize of the Baden Community Foundation" for short prose (Solingen, 1998)
• Inclusion on the list of proposals for the Prix ​​Italia for Catalonia 1925 (year unknown)

estate

Micovich's puppetry legacy is now in the Piccolo puppet collection in Bergisch Gladbach , while the literary estate is in private hands in Wuppertal.