Christoph Hein (; born 8 April 1944) is a German

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. He grew up in the village Bad Düben near

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule in the GDR, he received secondary education at a gymnasium in the western part of

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 constitu ...

. After his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...

'' he jobbed inter alia as assembler, bookseller and assistant director. From 1967 to 1971 Hein studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

in Leipzig and Berlin. Upon graduation he became dramatic adviser at the Volksbühne in Berlin, where he worked as a resident writer from 1974. Since 1979 Hein has worked as a freelance writer. Hein first became known for his 1982 novella ''Der fremde Freund'' (''The Distant Lover''). From 1998 to 2000 Hein was the first president of the pan-German PEN-Centre. According to Hein, the acclaimed film drama ''

The Lives of Others ''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of East Berli ...

'' is loosely based on his life story. In a 2019 article, he claims that after attending the premiere screening, he asked author and director

von Donnersmarck The House of Henckel von Donnersmarck is an old Austro-German noble family that originated in the former region of Spiš in Upper Hungary, now in Slovakia. The founder of the family was Henckel de Quintoforo in the 14/15th century. The origin ...

to have his name removed from the credits, because he felt that the movie was a ''""scary tale taking place in a fantasy land, comparable to Tolkien's

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...

,"'' that ''"does not depict the 1980s in the GDR"''.

Awards

Source: * 1982:

Heinrich Mann Prize The Heinrich Mann Prize () is an essay prize that has been awarded since 1953, first by the East German Academy of Arts, then by the Academy of Arts, Berlin. The prize, which comes with a €10,000 purse, is given annually on 27 March, Heinrich ...

of the

Akademie der Künste der DDR The Akademie der Künste der DDR was the central art academy of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It existed under different names from 1950 to 1993. Then it merged with the "Akademie der Künste Berlin (West)" to become the Academy of Arts, ...

* 1983:

Deutscher Kritikerpreis Deutscher Kritikerpreis was a cultural prize awarded annually by the Association of German Critics (Verband der Deutschen Kritiker e.V.) from 1951 to 2009. This award was given for outstanding contributions in the fields of architecture, the fi ...

* 1986: Mara-Cassens-Preis des Hamburger Literaturhauses für den Ersten Roman * 1989: Stefan-Andres-Preis (Stadt Schweich an der Mosel) * 1989: Lessing-Preis der DDR (Ministerium für Kultur) * 1990:

Erich Fried Prize The Erich Fried Prize (german: Erich-Fried-Preis) is a literary prize in honour of the Austrian poet Erich Fried, and is awarded annually by the for Literature and Language, based in Vienna. The value of the prize, endowed by the office of the Chan ...

(Wien) * 1992: Ludwig-Mülheims-Theaterpreis für religiöse Dramatik * 1992: Berliner Literaturpreis of the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung * 1994: Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz (5. Oktober 1994) * 1998: Peter-Weiss-Preis of the city of

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...

* 2000:

Solothurner Literaturpreis The Solothurner Literaturpreis is a literary award for a literary achievement by a German language writer. Awarded since 1994, the annual prize is 15,000 Swiss francs. It is named after the city of Solothurn in Switzerland. Winners *1994: Monik ...

* 2000: Zonser Hörspielpreis * 2002: Brüder-Grimm-Professur * 2002: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur * 2003: Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Stipendium * 2004:

Schiller-Gedächtnispreis The Schiller Memorial Prize (german: Schiller-Gedächtnispreis) is a literature prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg. It is endowed with 25,000 euros and has been awarded since 1955 on Friedrich Schiller's birthday, 10 November. The award was ...

des Landes Baden-Württemberg * 2004: Ver.di-Literaturpreis Berlin-Brandenburg * 2008: Walter-Hasenclever-Literaturpreis * 2010:

Eichendorff-Literaturpreis Eichendorff-Literaturpreis is a literary prize of Germany. It was first awarded in 1956 and was created in honour of Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. The prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, has been awarded annually by the Wangener Kreis – Socie ...

* 2011: Gerty-Spies-Literaturpreis * 2011: Honorary citizenship of Bad DübenJörg Uhle-Wettler:
Laudatio für Herrn Christoph Hein zum Ehrenbürger der Stadt Bad Düben.
' In: Stadtverwaltung Bad Düben, 13. April 2011, aufgerufen am 30. Dezember 2017. * 2012:

Uwe Johnson Prize The Uwe Johnson Prize is an annual German literary award. The award is named after the writer Uwe Johnson (1934–1984) and was first awarded in 1994. It is awarded for "outstanding literary works in which there are links to the poetics of Uwe John ...

* 2013: International Stefan Heym Prize * 2017:

Grimmelshausen-Preis Grimmelshausen-Preis is a literary prize in Germany, which is awarded since 1993 on every two years. The prize is named after Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, author of Simplicius Simplicissimus, a famous German book. The prize money is ...

for ''Glückskind mit Vater'' * 2020: Kinderbuchpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (together illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner) for ''Alles was Du brauchst – Die 20 wichtigsten Dinge im Leben''

Works

*''Die Witwe des Maurers'' (1980) *''Frank, eine Kindheit mit Vätern'' (narrative, 1980) *''Einladung zum Lever Bourgeois'' (narratives, 1980) *''Cromwell und andere Stücke'' (plays, 1981) *''Der fremde Freund'' (novella, 1982, in Western Germany: ''Drachenblut'', English translation ''The Distant Lover'') *''Die wahre Geschichte des Ah Q'' (play, 1982) *''Das Wildpferd unterm

Kachelofen A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature ...

'' (children's book, 1984) *''Horns Ende (novel, 1985) *''Schlötel oder Was solls'' (play, 1986) *''Öffentlich arbeiten'' (essays and interviews, 1987) *''Passage – ein Kammerspiel in drei Akten'' (play, 1987) *''Die Ritter der Tafelrunde'' (play, 1989) *''Der Tangospieler'' (narrative, 1989, English translation ''The Tango Player'') *''Als Kind habe ich Stalin gesehen'' (essays and speeches, 1990) *''Das Napoleon-Spiel'' (novel, 1993) *''Exekution eines Kalbes und andere Erzählungen'' (narratives, 1994) *''Randow – eine Komödie'' (play, 1994) *''Von allem Anfang an'' (autobiography, 1997) *''Willenbrock'' (novel, 2000, made into a movie in 2005, English translation ''Willenbrock'') *''Mama ist gegangen'' (children's novel, 2003) *''Landnahme'' (novel, 2004, English translation "Settlement" to be published November 2008) *''In seiner frühen Kindheit ein Garten'' (novel, 2005) *''Frau Paula Trousseau'' (novel 2007) *''Über die Schädlichkeit des Tabaks. Rede an die Abiturienten des Jahrgangs 2009''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hein, Christoph 1944 births Living people People from Ziębice People from the Province of Lower Silesia East German writers German male writers Aufstehen Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Heinrich Mann Prize winners Schiller Memorial Prize winners Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany