Olen Steinhauer (born June 21, 1970 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) is an American writer of spy fiction novels, including '' The Tourist'', part of the Milo Weaver series, and the Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Steinhauer also created the TV series '' Berlin Station'', focused on a fictional

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

branch operating in

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, which began airing in 2016.

Early life

On June 21, 1970, Steinhauer was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, United States. Steinhauer grew up in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Education

Steinhauer attended university at

Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania (LHU) is a public university in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The main campus consists of and the branch campus covers . It offers 69 undergraduat ...

, and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Austin. He received an MFA in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

at Emerson College in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Career

After graduation, Steinhauer received a year-long Fulbright grant to write a novel in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

about the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

. It was called ''Tzara's Monocle'', and when he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

afterward, he used that manuscript to secure a literary agent. However, it was with another book, the historical mystery set in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

, ''The Bridge of Sighs'', that Steinhauer first found publication. His 2009 CIA novel, ''The Tourist'', received positive reviews and is being developed for film by Sony Pictures Entertainment for

Doug Liman Douglas Eric Liman (; born July 24, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Go'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005), ''Jumper'' (2008), '' Ed ...

to direct. During the winter of 2009-10, Steinhauer was the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

's Institute for American Studies in

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, Germany.

Work

The Yalta Boulevard Sequence

''The Bridge of Sighs'' was the first in a five-book series of

thrillers Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Suc ...

chronicling the evolution of a fictional Eastern European country situated in the historical location of Ruthenia (now part of Ukraine) during the Cold War, with one book for each decade. Each book also focuses on a different main character. *''The Bridge of Sighs'' (2003) — Emil Brod, 1948 (nominated for five awards) *''The Confession'' (2004) — Ferenc Kolyeszar, 1956 *''36 Yalta Boulevard'' (2005) — Brano Sev, 1966–1967. Also published as ''The Vienna Assignment'' *''Liberation Movements'' (2006) — Brano Sev, Katja Drdova, Gavra Noukas, 1968 & 1975 (nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel). Also published as ''The Istanbul Variations'' *''Victory Square'' (2007) — The final book in the series, dealing with 1989, the end of communism, and the return to the main character of the first book, Emil Brod.

The Milo Weaver Series

* ''The Tourist'' (2009) — The first in a series of espionage novels focused on a central character, Milo Weaver. *'' The Nearest Exit'' (2010) *'' An American Spy'' (2012) *'' The Last Tourist'' (2020)

Standalone novels

* ''The Cairo Affair'' (2014) * ''All the Old Knives'' (2015) * ''The Middleman'' (2018)

References

External links

*
Contemporary Nomad
(edited by Steinhauer)

in ''The New York Times'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhauer, Olen 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American spy fiction writers American thriller writers American crime fiction writers Emerson College alumni Living people 1970 births Writers from Baltimore Novelists from Virginia Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Maryland Fulbright alumni