Leif Randt
Leif Randt was born in Frankfurt/Main in 1983. His studies included creative writing and cultural journalism in Gießen, London and Hildesheim.
He published his debut novel »Leuchtspielhaus« (tr: Luminous Play House) in 2010, which went on to win the Nicolas Born Debut Prize of the Literature Commission of Lower Saxony. His 2010 short story » Lose Spekulationen über Erotik im Kino« (tr: Loose Speculations over Eriticism in Cinema) won the MDR Literature Prize. In 2011, he received the Ernst Willner Prize at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition, in which he participated with an excerpt from his project »Schimmernder Dunst über Coby County« (2011; tr: Shimmering Haze over Coby Country). The story focuses on a young literary agent who lives in a fictional, apparently comfortable place inhabited by young, carefree creative people and maintains a relationship with a pianist. The utopia of an affluent society devoid of empathy and emotion was celebrated by the »FAZ« as an »almost epochal generation novel« and was awarded the Düsseldorf Literature Prize in 2012. Randt, often compared to other representatives of German pop literature, considers early Peter Handke as his literary model and sees himself as more influenced by cinema than literature. His third novel »Planet Magnon« (2015) was added to the »50 books of our time« list by »Spiegel«. The novel is built within the context of other American cultural works and follows two members of the Dolfin Collective as they travel through a computer-ruled universe in a post-democratic era of peace and self-control. The system is threatened by the Broken Heart Collective, a group whose use of corrupt relationships, uncontrolled feelings, and a failure to cope with the past stands in the way of the universal happiness of an ideal world. »As if the Star Wars inventor George Lucas had written a novel together with Jürgen Habermas, Germany’s most brilliant sociologist« (Denis Scheck). He was nominated for the Leipzig Book Prize with »Allegro Pastell« (2020). The novel is about the love affair between a Frankfurt web designer and a Berlin writer, telling the three-part story of the couple’s the long-distance relationship set in real locations around Hesse and Berlin. It became a much-discussed bestseller and is currently being made into a movie [cinema release 2026].
Randt’s most recent novel is »Let’s Talk About Feelings« (2025). At its center is Marian Flanders, a 41-year-old boutique owner in West Berlin who, following the death of his mother, organizes an alternative memorial – the novel tells of the first year after this event. Between successful half-siblings, travels to New Delhi, Wolfsburg, and Sapporo, fleeting romances and friendships, his subdued sadness gradually shifts into a quiet sense of euphoria. In this new novel, Randt crafts a “coming-of-middle-age” story that oscillates between lightness and melancholy.
Leif Randt’s prose has received numerous awards, most recently the Hölderlin Prize of the City of Bad Homburg [2023]. Since 2017, he has been co-curating the online publishing label tegelmedia.net. He lives in Maintal and Berlin.
Leuchtspielhaus
Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag
Berlin, 2009
Schimmernder Dunst über Coby County
Berlin Verlag
Berlin, 2011
Planet Magnon
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Köln, 2015
Allegro Pastell
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Köln, 2020
Let’s Talk About Feelings
Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Köln, 2025