Peter Hamm Explained

Peter Hamm
Birth Date:1937 2, df=y
Birth Place:Munich, Germany
Death Place:Tutzing, Germany
Partner:Marianne Koch
(1970s; 2019)
Organizations:
Awards:Grimme-Preis

Peter Hamm (27 February 1937 – 22 July 2019) was a German poet, author, journalist, editor, and literary critic. He wrote several documentaries, including ones about Ingeborg Bachmann and Peter Handke. He wrote for the German weekly newspapers Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, among others. From 1964 to 2002, Hamm worked as contributing editor for culture for the broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. He was also a jury member of literary prizes, and critic for a regular literary club of the Swiss television company Schweizer Fernsehen.

Early life and education

Hamm was born in Munich in 1937. His mother died in 1940, and he grew up with her parents in Weingarten, Oberschwaben, and in several Catholic boarding schools. He dropped out of school at age 14. He worked on a farm and began as an apprentice to be a bookseller, but did not complete it.

Career

His first published poems appeared in the literary magazine Akzente in 1954 when he was age 17 and in 1956 he was invited to read at the Gruppe 47. From 1959, he travelled to the GDR several times where he met authors such as Peter Huchel and Sarah Kirsch. He met Paul Celan in Paris. He studied literature not at universities, but by means of direct communication with authors, including Nelly Sachs, with whom he corresponded.

Hamm worked for the publisher from 1959 to 1960. He then was a freelance writer and journalist, publishing literary and music criticism in Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, among others. From 1964 to 2002, Hamm worked as Kulturredakteur (contributing editor for culture) for the Bayerischer Rundfunk. He wrote several television documentaries, including portraits of Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich Böll, Peter Handke and Martin Walser.

Hamm was a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung from 1991, serving as its vice president, and of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste from 1996. He was a member of the German section of the Pen Zentrum. He was a jury member of the Petrarca-Preis, the Peter-Huchel-Preis and of the monthly Preis der SWR-Bestenliste, among others. He belonged to the critics team of the monthly Literaturclub of the Schweizer Fernsehen from 1990 to 2014. He received the Grimme-Preis in 1976 for Die verbotene Schönheit, a film about Hans Werner Henze.

Personal life and death

Since the 1970s, Hamm had been the partner of Marianne Koch. They lived in Tutzing.

Hamm died on 22 July 2019. A cause of death was not given.

Published works

Poetry collections

Essay collections

Essay

Talks as books

As editor

TV film

Films

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Morals of Ruth Halbfass . Kino Tuskanac. . 23 July 2019.
  2. Web site: Übernachtung in Tirol. Filmportal.de.

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