Helga M. Novak

She resigned from the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1957 in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary the previous year. She moved to Iceland in 1961, where she married and had two children before her divorce. She traveled to Spain, France, and the U.S, before returning to East Germany. When her citizenship was revoked for writing and publishing critical texts, she moved between Iceland, Germany, Poland, and Bulgaria. For a short period, she was an informer ("inoffizieller Mitarbeiter") for the East German Stasi. In 2004, German authorities denied her German citizenship. Novak died in 2013 in Berlin.

Novak studied at Leipzig University and German Institute for Literature. The recorded working language is Icelandic and German. The field of work recorded is poetry. Distinctions recorded are Ernst Reuter Prize, Literaturpreis des Landes Brandenburg, Stadtschreiber von Bergen and Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis.

• Name — Maria Karlsdottir • Pen Name — Helga M. Novak • Born — 8 September 1935 • Birthplace — Berlin • Died — 24 December 2013 • Place of death — Rüdersdorf

• Ballade von der reisenden Anna, Neuwied 1965 • Colloquium mit vier Häuten, Neuwied 1967 • Das Gefrierhaus. Die Umgebung, Hamburg 1968 (together with Timm Bartholl) • Geselliges Beisammensein, Neuwied 1968 • Wohnhaft im Westend, Neuwied 1970 (together with Horst Karasek) • Aufenthalt in einem irren Haus, Neuwied 1971 • Seltsamer Bericht aus einer alten Stadt, Hannover 1973 (together with Dorothea Nosbisch) • Die Ballade von der kastrierten Puppe, Leverkusen 1975 (together with Peter Kaczmarek) • Balladen vom kurzen Prozess, Berlin 1975 • Die Landnahme von Torre Bela, Berlin 1976 • Margarete mit dem Schrank, Berlin 1978 • Die Eisheiligen, Darmstadt 1979 • Palisaden, Darmstadt 1980 • Vogel federlos, Darmstadt 1982 • Grünheide Grünheide, Darmstadt 1983 • Legende Transsib, Darmstadt 1985 • Märkische Feemorgana, Frankfurt am Main 1989 • Aufenthalt in einem irren Haus, Frankfurt am Main 1995 • Silvatica, Frankfurt am Main 1997 • Solange noch Liebesbriefe eintreffen, Frankfurt am Main 1999

She also worked under the names Helga Maria Novak and Maria Karlsdottir. Her recorded languages were Icelandic and German.

Novak worked in poetry. She belonged to PEN Germany, Free German Youth and Verband deutscher Schriftsteller.