Katja Lange-Müller (born 13 February 1951) is a German writer living in Berlin. Her works include several short stories and novellas, radio dramas, and dramatic works. The daughter of Inge Lange, an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

party functionary, Katja Lange-Müller was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's ...

. She was expelled from school at the age of 17 for "unsocialist" behavior. From an early age, she and her circle of friends were carefully watched by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

. Prevented from attending college, she first learned to be a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...

, and later worked as a nurse in a psychiatric clinic. At the age of 28, she was accepted to the "Johannes R. Becher" Literature Institute in Leipzig, marking the beginning of her career as a writer.

Works

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Awards

Ingeborg Bachmann Prize The Festival of German-Language Literature (german: Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur, links=no) is a literary event which takes place annually in Klagenfurt, Austria. During this major literary festival which lasts for several days a number of ...

, 1986 *

Alfred Döblin Prize The Alfred Döblin Prize (german: Alfred-Döblin-Preis) is a German literary award. Named after Alfred Döblin, it was endowed by Günter Grass in 1979. The prize is awarded every two years jointly by the Academy of Arts, Berlin and the Literary C ...

, 1995 * , 1996 *

Preis der SWR-Bestenliste Preis der SWR-Bestenliste is a literature prize awarded in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Winners *1978 Gerhard Roth *1979 Ludwig Fels *1980 Otto F. Walter *1981 Peter Weiss *1982 Franz Fühmann *1983 Oskar Pastior *1984 Christa Reinig *1985 ...

, 2001 *

Mainzer Stadtschreiber The Mainzer Stadtschreiber (City clerk in Mainz) is an annual German literature award. It is awarded by ZDF, 3sat and the city of Mainz and was founded in 1984. The award is endowed with €12,500. Additionally the laureate receives the right to l ...

of the city

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

and the television station

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

, 2002 *

Roswitha Prize The Roswitha Prize (german: Roswitha-Preis) is the oldest German language prize for literature that is given solely to women. The Roswitha-Medal has been given almost yearly since 1973 by the city of Bad Gandersheim. In 1998 it received its moder ...

of the city

Bad Gandersheim Bad Gandersheim ( Eastphalian: ''Ganderssen'') is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Northeim. , it had a population of 9,492. Bad Gandersheim has many half-timbered houses and is located on the German Timber-F ...

, 2002 *

Kassel Literary Prize The Kassel Literary Prize for Grotesque Humor (''Kasseler Literaturpreis für grotesken Humor''), established 1985, is an annual prize awarded by the city of Kassel and the Brückner-Kühner foundation in recognition of "grotesque and comic work" ...

, 2005 *

Kleist Prize The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Re ...

, 2013

Memberships

* 2000

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. It is seated in Darmstadt, ...

, Darmstadt * 2002

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

* 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange-Muller, Katja 1951 births Living people People from Lichtenberg People from East Berlin Writers from Berlin German women short story writers German short story writers 20th-century German writers 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German writers 21st-century German women writers 20th-century German short story writers 21st-century short story writers Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winners