Gerhard Meier

Gerhard Meier (born 20 June 1917 in Niederbipp; died 22 June 2008 in Langenthal)[1] was a Swiss writer and designer.

Gerhard Meier grew up in his home town of Niederbipp in Oberaargau, Bern, where he spent almost his entire life. As his dream career as an architect was not to be realised, he began studying structural engineering at the Technical College in Burgdorf. After dropping out of this course, he joined the AKA lamp factory in Niederbipp in 1938. He worked there for the next 33 years as a designer and eventually as technical manager, interrupted only by his military service during the Second World War.

Meier, a reader of Leo Tolstoy, Claude Simon and Robert Walser,[2] had already made his first attempts at writing during his studies, but gave them up entirely when he entered professional life. He resumed his interest in literature and writing in 1957, when he spent some time in a sanatorium in Heiligenschwendi due to tuberculosis. His first collection of poems was published in 1964, followed by further publications. In 1971, when, in his own words, he had ‘quasi paid off his bourgeoisie’, Meier gave up his job in industry and lived as a freelance writer in Niederbipp.