Helga M. Novak was born 8 September 1935 in Berlin-Köpenick as Maria Karlsdottir. She was adopted and raised by parents who disapproved of her joining the FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend [Free German Youth]) of the new socialist German Democratic Republic. Novak attended boarding school and studied journalism and philosophy at the University of Leipzig. She held various assembly and technical jobs at that time and later in Iceland, where she moved in 1961 upon her marriage to an Icelander. Together they had two children and later divorced. Novak today remains a citizen of Iceland.
In 1965, she returned to the GDR to continue her studies at the Johannes R. Becher Literature Institute in Leipzig. In this year she also published her first volume of poetry in Germany, Ballade von der reisenden
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Citation: Strawser, Amy Kepple. "Helga Novak". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=6016, accessed 23 November 2024.]
