Willi Acht

Willihaben at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018

Willihaben (born March 21, 1958 in Mönchengladbach ) is a German writer.

Life

Willi Peter Leonhardhaben grew up in Niederkrüchten- Elmpt and attended the St. Wolfhelm high school in Waldniel . From 1978 to 1983 he studied German language and literature in Bonn and special education in Cologne and became a teacher in Aachen. Extensive travels took him to Morocco and Sri Lanka. He led seminars in teacher training and at the University of Cologne on the subject of creative writing . Eighth has also been a writer since the early 1990s. His first volume of poetry received the 2nd Düsseldorf Poetry Prize. He published novels, some of which were supported by work grants from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and (2002) from the Kunststiftung NRW . For his novel Ameisensommer he received the “Diotima Literature Prize” and the Dormagener quill pen . From 1997 to 2000 he was (together with the authors Jürgen Nendza , Sylvie Schenk and Hermann-Josef Schüren as well as the musician Ludger Singer) a member of the artist group "Herrenlose Tungen", which tried to use the concept of the "text concert" to make popular literary readings for a musician and four authors.

Eighth book, published in 2008, The Florentine Disease is a Love Story; the novel “is multi-layered and follows several narrative strands that are skillfully linked and interwoven.”
Willi Acht is married and has two sons. He lives near Aachen in Vaals (Netherlands).

Ant summer

This multi-award-winning and widely discussed novel consists of 41 atmospherically dense miniatures that tell the story of a father who set out with his son to look for a missing Arab woman, the mother of the child, in Morocco. In the texts, which mix the real and the surreal, sensory impressions and feelings as well as the landscape of the Sahara are described in great detail and expressively. “Under the hand, reality takes on the appearance of a dream, the dream that of reality. What is reality The question runs through the whole book. ”The novel is also poetically pervaded by animal imagery , there is a melancholy mood. Interpersonal relationships are clearly shown: “The whisper is loud now. It's shrill and sharp when the mother hisses. The father's voice is harsh and dark like the pouring of water in a drainpipe. The boy lies on his side. Presses his ear to the pillow. He presses the teddy bear on the other ear. Then it's quiet - thanks to the bear and thanks to the pillow. "

Works

Books

• We loved . Novel. Piper-Verlag, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-492-05994-7
• Nothing remains . Novel. Pendragon Verlag, Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-86532-568-6
• Behind the sea . Selected poems. Edition Virgines, Düsseldorf 2016, ISBN 978-3-944011-53-0
• The Florentine Disease . Novel. Edition Cologne, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-936791-57-0
• The Florentine Disease . Poetry. Matussek, Nettetal 2000, ISBN 3-920743-83-0
• Ant summer . Novel. Grupello, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-933749-14-X
• Of love and blue . Novel. Gollenstein, Blieskastel 1999, ISBN 3-933389-13-5
• Transfer. Narratives . Grupello, Düsseldorf 1997, ISBN 3-928234-61-7
• The privilege of pepper & salt . Poems. Alano-Verlag, Aachen 1994, ISBN 3-89399-219-7

Prose in anthologies and cultural magazines

• Sophia . In: Signum. Sheets for culture and criticism . No. 8. Dresden 2006, ISSN  1438-9355
• Mogador . In: Signs & Miracles. Quarterly magazine for culture . No. 42, Frankfurt 2002, ISSN  0946-1809
• The shadow mouth . Narrative. In: Muschelhaufen, annual journal for literature and graphics , No. 39/40, Viersen 2000, ISSN  0085-3593
• Hollywood on Mauergäßchen . In: Ingrid Straube (Ed.): Aachen / Prosa / Heute . Alano: Aachen 1989

literature

• Kirsten Dyrda: The literary duet. An author and his editor . In: Klenkes. Aachen city magazine , March 1998
• Holger Hintzen: Second job: poet . In: Rheinische Post from March 16, 2006
• Franz Norbert Mennemeier: Morocco as a state of mind. Willi Achtens novel "Ameisensommer" . In: Neues Rheinland , No. 11, Düsseldorf 2000, ISSN  0342-9830
• Michaela Plattenreich: In the desert, where the senses cook . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung from August 15, 2000
• Grit Schorn: Tired of "Florentine Disease" . In: Aachener Zeitung of September 23, 2008
• Grit Schorn: Writer Willi Acht overcomes borders . In: Aachener Nachrichten of September 9, 1998

Web links

• Literature by and about Willihaben in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography and information on the work of Willihaben at Literaturport
• Portrait and excerpt ( memento from October 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Texts from the summer of ants in "Lyrikwelt"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Belgischer Rundfunk , cultural broadcast Forum from February 15, 1997. Quote: "... texts receive an unexpected timbre, often open up completely anew and previously unknown structures become audible and visible".
2. ^ Eduard Hoffmann: Getting sick of too much art and beauty . In: Belgischer Rundfunk , November 2008
3. ↑ 1999 and a. in: Mosaic WDR 3 , Belgian Broadcasting, Rheinische Post , Aachener Nachrichten , Neues Rheinland, Westdeutsche Zeitung
4. ^ Franz Norbert Mennemeier: Morocco as a state of mind . In: New Rhineland .
5. ↑ Quoted from: Ameisensommer . Düsseldorf 1999, page 20