Karen Duve

Karen Duve was born in Hamburg in 1961. She trained as a tax inspector, worked as a factory worker and proofreader for a newspaper, and drove a cab for 13 years. She is the author of numerous novels as well as several non-fiction and children’s books and works in a wide variety of genres: science fiction, crime, development, fantasy, and historical novels. She writes for various publications and often appears on TV programs, especially on the subject of animal welfare.

Her debut »Regenroman« (Eng. »Rain«, 2004) was published in 1999 and immediately became a bestseller. This was followed by »Dies ist kein Liebeslied« (2002; Eng. »This Is Not a Love Song«, 2005), »Die entführte Prinzessin« (2005; tr: The Kidnapped Princess), and »Taxi« (2008), all bestsellers and characterized by straightforward, ironic language. »Taxi« tells the story of an aimless young woman who accidentally gets into the cab trade and finds herself confronted with countless people and life. The first non-fiction book, »Anständig essen« (2011; Eng. »Eating Decently«), is based on a self-experiment: the author spent a year trying out different types of healthy and ethically correct food, from organic to vegetarian to vegan. »Fräulein Nettes kurzer Sommer« (2018; tr: Miss Nice’s Short Summer), a novel portrait of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, received much critical acclaim for its intensive research and linguistic presentation, a mixture of contemporary language, idioms of the time and the author’s characteristic humor. In »Sisi« (2022), her second historical novel, Duve portrays the Empress of Austria-Hungary as a free spirit. According to »taz«, the novel is characterized by »Duve’s narrative sound, that emphatically laconic, latently ironic tone in which a superior authorial voice is always perceptible«.

Duve’s novels have been translated into 14 languages. The film version of »Taxi« was released in cinemas in 2015 and »Regenroman« and »Dies ist kein Liebeslied« were adapted for the theater. In 2017, Duve received the Kassel Literature Prize for Grotesque Humor for the novel »Macht« (2016; tr: Power). »Fräulein Nettes kurzer Sommer« was awarded the Carl Amery Prize, the Düsseldorf Literature Prize and the Solothurn Literature Prize, while »Sisi« was awarded the Walter Kempowski Prize for Biographical Literature in 2023.

The author lives in Märkische Schweiz.

Regenroman
Eichborn
Frankfurt am Main, 1999

Dies ist kein Liebeslied. Roman
Eichborn
Frankfurt am Main, 2002

Die entführte Prinzessin. Von Drachen, Liebe und anderen Ungeheuern
Eichborn
Berlin, 2005

Taxi
Eichborn
Frankfurt am Main, 2008

Anständig essen. Ein Selbstversuch
Galiani
Berlin, 2011

Macht
Galiani
Berlin, 2016

Fräulein Nettes kurzer Sommer
Galiani
Berlin, 2018

Sisi
Galiani Verlag
Berlin, 2022