(L-R): Secretary of State Guy Weber; Georges Hausemer; Credit: MCULT

Luxembourg writer, Georges Hausemer, has died aged 61.

Georges Hausemer has been described as a pioneer in the publishing world for playing an important role in the development of contemporary Luxembourgish literature. He was honoured with a number of awards and national prizes, including last year with the big Luxembourgish literary prize, the Batty Weber prize (worth €10,000) which was presented to him on 23 October 2017 at the National Literature Centre (CNL) in Mersch.

A statement from Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister and Minister for Culture, and Guy Arendt, State Secretary for Culture, described him as a remarkable committed writer, translator and editor who has been very active in literary and cultural fields.

He published short stories, novels, travelogues and non-fictional works and also translated a considerable number of works from French, English, Spanish and Luxembourgish into German. Sometimes using the nom de plume Theo Selmer, he has also worked as an illustrator.

Georges Hausemer studied journalism and romance languages in Salzburg and Mainz. Since 1984, he has worked in a freelance capacity from Esch-sur-Alzette.

Together with Susanne Jaspers, he run the publishing house capybarabooks and The Capybara Gazette.