DBC Pierre

DBC Pierre was born as Peter Warren Finlay in a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, in 1961. The first seven years he lived mostly in England. Then his family moved to Mexico City, where he spent the rest of his childhood and youth. His father, a scientist, fell ill when Peter Warren was 16 years old, and died three years later. The devaluation of the Mexican Peso caused major losses to the Finlay family fortune. Peter Warren worked as an artist, a designer and a photographer for clients all over the world. He dedicated his talent to risky projects, including a film about Montezuma’s treasure. He spent all his money on drugs. Eventually he owed several hundred thousand Dollars. The result was a breakdown at age 20, followed by detox treatments, several years of therapy in psychiatric hospitals, and unemployment. At age 37, Finlay was finally prepared to start his life from scratch and decided to become a writer.
His first novel »Vernon God Little« (2003), published under his pen name DBC (»dirty but clean«) Pierre, which has remained since, became an international bestseller and was awarded the renowned Man Booker Prize. The first-person narrator in this extremely dynamic debut tells the story of Vernon Little from a small town in Texas, where everybody, and in particular the media, believe that he has run amok in his school. In fact, his friend Jesus was the maniac. »Angry as a song by Eminem and funny as a film by Tarantino« (Bavarian Radio Station) the critical satire is a reference to literary models like J. D. Salinger and William S. Burroughs. DBC Pierre’s second novel, »Ludmila’s Broken English« (2006), another satire, is about East and West, and the encounter of the Siamese twins Bunny and Blair from England, who are only separated at the age of 33. A beauty in the civil war-stricken Caucasus plays a role, too. In his most recent book, »Lights Out in Wonderland« (2010), DBC Pierre seeks out the decadence of capitalist consumerism. The first-person narrator Gabriel, an opponent of globalization, wants to make a statement in the context of an apocalyptic banquet event. He acts according to the motto: »Profit won the game but, like an infection, killed the host«.
DBC Pierre has received several awards for his works, including the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. The author lives in County Leitrim, Ireland.

© internationales literaturfestival berlin

Jesus von Texas
Aufbau
Berlin, 2004
[Ü: Karsten Kredel]

Bunny und Blair
Aufbau
Berlin, 2007
[Ü: Henning Ahrens]

Das Buch Gabriel
Eichborn Verlag
Frankfurt, 2010
[Ü: Kirsten Riesselmann]