Wolfgang Herrndorf (12 June 1965 in Hamburg – 26 August 2013 in Berlin) was a German author, painter, and illustrator.

Life and career

In 2002, his debut novel ''In Plüschgewittern'' was published by Zweitausendeins. Despite the protagonist's age of approximately 30 years, Herrndorf describes the novel as youth novel. Critics described the novel as popular literature, a reworked version of ''In Plüschgewittern'' was republished by Rowohlt Verlag, Rowohlt in 2008. A collection of interconnected short stories by Herrndorf was published by Eichborn Verlag under the title of ''Diesseits des Van-Allen-Gürtels'' in 2007; A fictional interview between Herrndorf and an untrustworthy Cosmonaut, which contained many elements from science-fiction, was released the same year, by SuKuLTuR-Verlag. Unreliable narrators are a recurring element in Herrndorf's fiction, which is attributed to the influence of Vladimir Nabokov. His critically and commercially biggest success was the novel ''Tschick'' (published as ''Why We Took the Car'' in English), a bildungsroman about two fourteen-year-old boys. The book was featured on the German list of bestselling books for over a year. He published his next novel ''Sand (Herrndorf novel), Sand'' in November 2011. The novel contains elements of crime fiction, society novels and historical novels. Herrndorf quipped, the novel could belong to the genre of the "Trottelroman" (''idiot novel''). ''Sand'' won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2012, ‘’Tschick’’ was nominated for the same prize the year before. Herrndorf's friend Robert Koall accepted the prize in Herrndorf's stead. ''Sand'' also made it to the shortlist of the German Book Prize. Herrndorf, who lived in Berlin, regularly wrote in the web forum "Wir höflichen Paparazzi" (German web forum that reports about random encounters with celebrities), which is acknowledged to have had a strong influence on Herrndorf and worked as a space for resonance. He also participated with contributions for the web blog "Riesenmaschine" (German collaborative blog). He was a member of the national authors football team "Autonama". After being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour (glioblastoma) in February 2010, he began a digital diary called "das Blog Arbeit und Struktur" (the blog Work and Structure) in which he reports about his deadly illness. It was posthumously published in December 2013 by Rowohlt Verlag, Rowohlt in book form, as the author had requested. Doroth-friedrichwerd-friedhof-berlin - 101

Doroth-friedrichwerd-friedhof-berlin - 101

On 26 August 2013 Herrndorf committed suicide in Berlin. He was interred at the Dorotheenstadt cemetery in Berlin. In 2014 Rowohlt Verlag, Rowohlt published the sequel of ''Why We Took the Car, Tschick'' from Isa's point of view as an unfinished novel with the title ''Bilder deiner großen Liebe'' (''Pictures Of Your True Love''). The epilogue by Kathrin Passig and Marcus Gärtner states that Herrndorf himself approved the release and determined the title. The book was first performed as a play in 2015 at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, directed by Jan Gehlers.

Bibliography

Novels

* 2002 – '':de:In Plüschgewittern, In Plüschgewittern'' * 2010 – ''Why We Took the Car, Tschick'' * 2011 – ''Sand (Herrndorf novel), Sand'' * 2014 – ''Pictures Of Your True Love, Bilder deiner großen Liebe'' – unfinished

Nonfiction

* 2013 – '':de:Arbeit und Struktur, Arbeit und Struktur''

Other works

* 1998 – with Jürgen Roth: ''Heribert Faßbender – Gesammelte Werke. Band IX/5: UEFA Euro 1996, Europameisterschaft 1996, Italien–Deutschland.'' (As Editor) * 2007 – '':de:Diesseits des Van-Allen-Gürtels, Diesseits des Van-Allen-Gürtels'' (A collection of six short stories) * 2007 – '':de:Die Rosenbaum-Doktrin, Die Rosenbaum-Doktrin'' (A fictional interview. Published in ''Schöner Lesen'', Issue #64) * 2018: '':de: Stimmen (Herrndorf), Stimmen. Texte, die bleiben sollten'' (A collection of literary texts written between 2001 and 2010.)

Exhibitions

*2017: Das unbekannte Kapitel. Wolfgang Herrndorfs Bilder. Kunsthaus Stade, June – October 2017 *2015: Wolfgang Herrndorf: Bilder. Literaturhaus Berlin, June – September 2015 *2016: „Zitate" – Bilder von Wolfgang Herrndorf. Literaturhaus München, Literaturhaus Munich, July – September 2016

Awards

*2008 – Deutscher Erzählerpreis (2008), Deutscher Erzählerpreis für ''Diesseits des Van-Allen-Gürtels'' *2011 – Leipzig Book Fair Prize ( Fiction) für ''Why We Took the Car'' (Nominated) *2011 – Clemens-Brentano-Preis für ''Why We Took the Car'' *2011 – Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis für ''Why We Took the Car'' *2012 – Hans Fallada Prize *2012 – Leipzig Book Fair Prize ( Fiction) für ''Sand'' *2012 – Literaturpreis des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft

External links

*
''Arbeit und Struktur''
Wolfgang Herrndorf's Blog (in German)

(in German) * [http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/bestsellerautor-bestsellerautor-wolfgang-herrndorf-mit-48-jahren-gestorben/8699244.html ''Bestsellerautor Wolfgang Herrndorf mit 48 Jahren gestorben''], Der Tagesspiegel, 27. August 2013. (in German) * Fokke Joel
''Schreiben gegen das Ende''
Die Zeit, 27. August 2013. (in German) * Holm Friebe
''Aus der Welt gefallen''
''Welt am Sonntag'', 1. September 2013. (in German)
Podcast of the Bayrischer Rundfunk (20min)
(in German) * Tillmann Prüfer
Unknown Pictures
(text in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrndorf, Wolfgang 1965 births 2013 deaths German male writers Artists from Berlin German caricaturists Suicides by firearm in Germany Artists who committed suicide