Jean-Christophe Meyer

Jean-Christophe Meyer, the son of a wine grower, is a journalist at the newspaper ”L’ Alsace” in Saint-Louis. He writes there on Saturdays a paper in Alsatian dialect, alterning with other authors. But he is first of all a poet. After several books in French, he published in 2015 his first bilingual book Lìechtùnge – Clairières (clearings). He is involved in different associations supporting the regional language and culture. He is the secretary of AGATE and created with them  the poet-path of Blienschwiller in 2010.

Alms

The alms of yonder daybreak¶
In our hand remind us of a¶
sheer joy when day appears –¶ 

like the sun that sometimes plays¶
with the dark waters¶
of the Rhine. Water and Light¶
both dance together¶

as we do in life¶
just like butterflies.¶
We cloud its mirror and then¶
we suddenly disappear¶
like a rain of shooting stars in an¶
August night –¶

Yet forever they will shine¶
the trails we have sown behind!¶

Life

Jean-Christophe Meyer grew up in a small village with 300 inhabitants on the Alsatian Wine Road. He comes from a very old wine-grower family. His parents taught him Alsatian, his mother tongue. However his first literary language was French, the language learned at school. 

He studied at ”Sciences Politiques” in Strasbourg, spent a year at ”Friederich-Alexander-Universität” in Nuremberg and studied too at the journalist school of Strasbourg. He belongs to the small team of authors who write every Saturday a paper in Alsatian.

Jean-Christophe Meyer is also and mainly a poet. After some books in French (one of them published in Québec, Canada) he published his first bilingual book French/Alsatian Lìechtùnge – Clairières (clearings) in 2015. In the ”3 countries land” where he lives, he takes part to the cultural cross-border life. Thus he created bridges between poets of the 3 countries, publishing in 2012 with Louis Perin an anthology gathering 30 authors. 

He created the poet-path of Blienschwiller in 2010, supported by the inhabitants of his village. Being interested in the history of his village, he published in 2015, thanks to the History Society of Dambach la Ville, Barr and Obernai, a first paper called ”Lieux-dits à Blienschwiller, Nothalten et Zell, éléments de microtoponymie”.

Since 2015 he has been the secretary of AGATE (Académie pour une Graphie Alsacienne Transfrontalière) and a member of different associations supporting the regional language and culture.

He intends to publish different books, one of them being ”Nous, Pèlerins de l’aube” ( We, Pilgrims of the dawn), a long text in prosa he wrote in Québec.

Works

Poetry

Sagittales, éditions Bf, Strasbourg 2004.

Garde ton souffle pour le chant de la gratitude, éditions du Sablier, Québec, 2011.

Lìechtùnge/Clairières, éditions Le Tourneciel, La Vancelle, 2015.

Anthology

Rheinkiesel/Galets du Rhin anthologie de poètes et écrivains du Rhin supérieur, dir. Jean-Christophe Meyer et Louis Perin, éditions du Lys, Saint-Louis 2012.

Translations

Im Kreuzfeuer zweier Kulturen, anthologie bilingue de Paul-Georges Koch, trad. française de Jean-Christophe Meyer, Jérôme Do Bentzinger, Colmar, 2008.

Distinctions

Prix de l’édition, festival l’Image et le Verbe, Molsheim 2004

Friehjohrsschwalmele 2011