Koltz, Anise, 1928-2023

Poet and translator Anise Koltz was born on June 12, 1928 in Eich, Luxembourg City. She attended Lycée de jeunes filles in Luxembourg during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s, and left before graduating secondary school. She married René Koltz. Her literary career began with writing short stories in the 1950s, mostly fairy tales, in German and Luxembourgish. She later transitioned to writing mostly poetry. In 1962, she and her husband launched the Mondorfer Dichtertage (Mondorf Poetry Days), which became one of the most prestigious literary events in continental Europe. After René Koltz died in 1971 from long-term effects of Nazi torture he endured during the occupation, Anise Koltz wrote exclusively in French. She also translated with works of other authors, including the Senegalese poet Léopold Sédar Senghor or the Belgian poet Andrée Sodenkamp. In 1996, Koltz founded the European Poetry Academy alongside the French poet Alain Bosquet. She was also a member of the Académie Mallarmé in Paris, as well as both the Belgian and French PEN Clubs. Koltz died on March 1, 2023.