born in 1959 in Stuttgart, is a writer and translator living in Berlin after spending twenty years abroad, in Italy, France and several middle east countries. He has received numerous awards for his literary work, including the Hölderlin-Prize (2015) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Literature Prize (2016). In 2017 he
Michael Palmer was born in New York City in 1943. He studied Comparative Literature at Harvard University and settled in San Francisco in 1969. As an undergraduate Palmer collaborated with Clark Coolidge in publishing the magazine ‘Joglars’. His first volume of poetry, ‘Plan of the City of O’, appeared in
Mia (António Emílio Leite) Couto was born in Beira, Mozambique to Portuguese immigrants. At the age of 14 he had his first poems published in the newspaper »Notícias da Beira«. Three years later he began to study Medicine and then worked as a journalist. After Mozambique had achieved independence from
Martin Walser was born in Wasserburg on Lake Constance in 1927. He studied Literature, History and Philosophy in Regensburg and Tübingen, where he wrote his doctorate on Franz Kafka in 1951. From 1949 to 1957 Walser worked as a reporter, director and radio playwright for the Süddeutscher Rundfunk regional radio
Mark Strand was born in 1934 in Summerside on the Canadian Prince Edward Island and he grew up in the United States and South America. He studied at Antioch College in Ohio, at Yale University and at the University of Iowa, where he started teaching after a residence in Italy
Marco Archetti was born in Brescia in 1976. His first novel, “Lola Motel”, was published in 2004. As with the following work, “Vent’anni che non dormo” (t: Twenty Years Since I’ve Slept), he depicts with grotesque exaggeration and ironic mockery an aloof romantic relationship. Archetti, who is influenced by Nabokov,
The Taiwanese poet Luo Zhicheng was born in Taipei in 1955. After graduating from the Department of Philosophy at National Taiwan University he worked as editor of the literary supplement of the »China Times« for two years. He then went on to gain a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies
Lizzie Doron was born in 1953 and lives in Tel Aviv. Her autobiographical first novel tells of the decades after World War II in Israel and about the life of her mother, a Holocaust survivor. The book has become required reading at schools in Israel. Doron won the Buchman Prize,
Linn Ullmann was born in Oslo in 1966. She graduated from New York University in 1988 and began work on her PhD the same year. In 1992 she permanently moved to Norway. After a few years as a radio reporter and co-editor of the literary journal ‘VAGANT’, she began her
Lilia Schewzowa graduated from Moscow’s State Institute for International Relations where she is currently teaching as a professor. She works at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace in Moscow as a Senior Associate. Shevtsova is the author and co-author of several books, among them the bestsellers ‘Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and
Kwang-Kyu Kim was born in Seoul in 1941. During his childhood, he witnessed the re-establishment of Korean independence, the Korean War and the division of the country. In 1960 he began to study German and took part in the initially hopeful student protests against the Korean dictatorship. After completing his
Ko Un (real name Ko Un-t’ae) was born in Kunsan, in what is today South Korea, in 1933. His life has been characterised by extreme biographical breaks closely tied to the history of his native country and which also surface in his work. During the Korean War he was forced
