Ralf Rothmann was born in 1953 and grew up in the Ruhr. After leaving school he apprenticed as a bricklayer, worked in construction for several years and then pursued several occupations (he was, among other things, a printer, a nurse, and a cook). In 1976 he moved to Berlin where he has been living ever since. He is the author of eight novels and several short story collections and poems. His most recent novel, Im Frühling sterben, 2015 (To Die in Spring, 2017), has been translated into twenty-four languages. Ralf Rothmann has received a number of awards for his literary work, including the Wilhelm Raabe Prize for Literature, the Heinrich Böll Prize, the Max Frisch Prize and the Art and Culture Prize of the German Catholic Church. His novel Junges Licht (2004, Young Light) was made into a film.
*Photo: © Heike Steinweg Suhrkamp Verlag.
