Andrea Maria Schenkel (born 21 March 1962 in
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
, West Germany) is a German writer. She received the
Corine Literature Prize
The Corine – International Book Prize, as it is officially called, is a German literature prize created by the
Bavarian chapter of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, first awarded in 2001. It is awarded to German and international "aut ...
(2007).
Biography
She published her
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
''
Tannöd'' in 2006. Based on the
Hinterkaifeck murder in the 1920s, Schenkel's fictional account takes place in the 1950s. She describes, in ghastly and suspenseful detail, how a small Bavarian village, called Tannöd, became the unlikely site of a horrific crime. In her novel, a whole family – the farmer, his wife and children, the maidservants and farm laborers – are all killed in one night. Nobody had liked the family: they had been unfriendly, greedy and crabby. But now after the outrage, fear dominates life in the village. Nobody knows the murderer. Slowly, anxious and shocked every witness gives his statement. Speculation and assumptions about the case are described in a direct, merciless and impressive manner. With her debut novel, Andrea Schenkel presents not only thrilling crime and fiction. She also draws the pitiless portraits of a bigoted and unromantic rural society influenced by traumatic relations that finally lead to death. More than one million copies were sold in Germany. The work has been published in more than 20 languages, with foreign rights sold to France (Actes Sud), Italy (Riuniti), the Netherlands (Signature), Sweden (Ersatz), Norway and Denmark. In 2009,
Constantin Film
The Constantin Film AG is a German mini-major film production and distribution company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of pr ...
released Tannöd, starring
Julia Jentsch
Julia Jentsch (born 20 February 1978) is a German actress. She has received awards including the Silver Bear, European Film Award, and Lola. She is best known for ''Sophie Scholl – The Final Days'', '' The Edukators'' and ''I Served the King of ...
and
Volker Bruch
Volker Bruch (; born 9 March 1980) is a German television and film actor. He is best known internationally for his leading roles as Wilhelm Winter in the television drama ''Generation War'' (2013) and as Inspector Gereon Rath in the neo-noir seri ...
. Her first novel won the ''
Deutscher Krimi Preis The Deutscher Krimi Preis, or the ''German Crime Fiction Award'', is the oldest and most prestigious German literary prize for crime fiction.
It has been awarded since 1985 by the Bochum Crime Archive. Unlike the Friedrich Glauser Prize, which is ...
'' (German award for crime thrillers) in the category "Best National Crime Thriller 2007". In 2008, Tannöd won Sweden's
Martin Beck Award The Martin Beck Award is an award given by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy (''Svenska Deckarakademin'') for the best crime novel in translation. It is one of the most prestigious international crime-writing awards.
The Award is named after Martin ...
, which is given to the best detective story translated into Swedish. The English translation of the novel was released by
Quercus Publishing
Quercus is a formerly independent publishing house, based in London, that was acquired by Hodder & Stoughton in 2014. It was founded in 2004 by Mark Smith and Wayne Davies.
Quercus is known for its lists in crime (publishing such authors as Ell ...
on 5 June 2008. The title is ''The Murder Farm''. Quercus released a paperback edition of "The Murder Farm" on 26 December 2008. In June 2014, Quercus published the work in the United States, which ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' announced in
profileof Schenkel.
In August 2007, Schenkel published her second novel, ''Kalteis'', which focuses on a
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
in 1930s Germany. It is set in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
where female bodies keep surfacing around the city and the circumstantial evidence points to the unassuming and married Joseph Kalteis. ''Kalteis'' also won the ''
Deutscher Krimi Preis The Deutscher Krimi Preis, or the ''German Crime Fiction Award'', is the oldest and most prestigious German literary prize for crime fiction.
It has been awarded since 1985 by the Bochum Crime Archive. Unlike the Friedrich Glauser Prize, which is ...
'' in the category "Best National Crime Thriller 2008" – the first time an author won the award for two consecutive years.
Her third book, "Bunker," was published by Nautilus in 2009. "Finsterau" was published by Hoffmann und Campe in 2012, and by Quercus, under the title "The Dark Meadow," in 2014. Her novel, "Tauscher," was published by
Hoffmann und Campe
Hoffmann is a German surname.
People A
* Albert Hoffmann (1846–1924), German horticulturist
* Alexander Hoffmann (born 1975), German politician
*Arthur Hoffmann (politician) (1857–1927), Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Coun ...
in 2013.
In June 2015, Quercus US published "Kalteis" under the title "Ice Cold," and in March 2016, Hoffman und Campe will publish her next work
"Als die Liebe endlich war"("Where Love Ends"), which takes readers from 1930s Germany to World War II-era Shanghai to 21st-century America. "Als die Liebe endlich war", was published b
Hoffmann und Campein 2016; the French version, Le bracelet, was published b
Actes Sudin 2018.
Andrea Maria Schenkel lives with her family near
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
.
Books
*''The Murder Farm'', Quercus Publishing, London (2008),
*''Ice Cold'', Quercus Publishing, London (2009)
*''Bunker'', Quercus Publishing, London (2011)
*''The Dark Meadow'', Quercus Publishing, London (2012); ''Finsterau'', Hoffmann und Campe (March 2012)
*''Täuscher'', Hoffmann und Campe (September 2013)
*''Als die Liebe endlich war'', Hoffmann und Campe (March 2016)
External links
Article in ''Der Spiegel''(German)
Reading excerpt(German)
Interview on Täuscher (2013)Quercusan
Quercus USAPublisher's websites
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schenkel, Andrea Maria
1962 births
Living people
21st-century German novelists
German crime fiction writers
German women novelists
Women mystery writers
21st-century German women writers