Anna Winger (née LeVine; born 1970) is an American writer, producer, screenwriter, and photographer who lives in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

. She is co-creator of the television dramas ''

Deutschland 83 ''Deutschland 83'' is a 2015 German spy thriller television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who is sent to West Germany in 1983 as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. I ...

,'' '' Deutschland 86,'' '' Deutschland 89,'' and ''

Unorthodox Unorthodox may refer to: Music * Unorthodox (band), an American doom metal band * ''Unorthodox'' (Edge of Sanity album), 1992 * ''Unorthodox'' (Snow Tha Product album), 2011 * "Unorthodox" (Joey Badass song), 2013 * "Unorthodox" (Wretch 32 so ...

'' and the limited series ''

Transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

''. She is the founder of the Berlin production company, Studio Airlift.

Early life and education

Winger grew up in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Her parents are anthropologists, and their work took their family to live in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

for extended periods. She is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. She graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1993.

Career

Before she started writing, Winger worked as a professional photographer for more than a decade. Winger's first novel, ''This Must Be the Place'', was published in 2008 by

Riverhead Books Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy. Writers published by Riverhead include Ali Sethi, Marlon James, Junot Díaz, George Saunders, Khaled Hosseini, Nick Hornby, Anne Lamott, Carl ...

. Her personal essays have appeared in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', ''

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club me ...

'', ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'', and ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

''. Winger's radio series for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Worldwide, ''Berlin Stories'', ran from 2009 to 2013. Her first project as a screenwriter was ''

'', a television drama which she co-created with her husband

Joerg Winger Joerg Winger (born 1969 in Cologne) is an Executive producer, Executive Producer and Managing Director at Big Window Productions and a co-creator of the television drama ''Deutschland 83''. Early life and education Winger was born in Cologne. He s ...

. The series aired on

Sundance TV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

(USA) in June 2015 and on

RTL RTL may refer to: Media * RTL Group, a European TV, radio, and production company *** List of RTL Group's television stations (including part-owned channels) *** List of RTL Group's radio stations ** RTL Lëtzebuerg, usually referred to simply a ...

(Germany) in November and December 2015. The 8-episode series, about a young East German spy on an undercover mission to West Germany in 1983, had its world premiere when the first two episodes were shown at the 2015

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. Winger wrote the series in English, but it was shot in German. It is the first German-language series to be shown on American television. It won the International Emmy for best drama series, a Peabody award and the Adolf Grimme prize in 2016. In 2016, Winger founded her own Berlin-based production company, Studio Airlift. In 2017 she co-created and co-produced the

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

and

miniseries '' Deutschland 86,'' which was the follow-up season to ''Deutschland 83.'' The third installment, '' Deutschland 89'', was broadcast in 2021. She was also a consulting producer for the Epix series, '' Berlin Station.'' Winger and Alexa Karolinski served as co-creators and co-writers of the miniseries ''

,'' which debuted on March 26, 2020 and was

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

's first original series in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. It was nominated for many prizes and won a best director Emmy for

Maria Schrader Maria Schrader (born 27 September 1965) is a German actress, screenwriter, and director. She directed the award-winning 2007 film ''Love Life'' and the 2020 Netflix miniseries '' Unorthodox'', for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Ou ...

. Unorthodox was produced by Studio Airlift, as was Winger's next series for Netflix, ''

,'' which aired in 2023. In 2020, Winger served as a non-writing Executive Producer on '' Suspicion,'' for Apple TV. Winger was in an exclusive deal with Netflix from 2021 to 2024.

Personal life

Winger met her husband in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Before 2002, Winger lived in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and her husband

lived in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urba ...

. In 2002, they moved together to

. They have two daughters. She speaks English,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, but always writes in English.

Filmography

References

External links

* * Berlin Stories of NP

* Berlinale press announcemen

* Intervie
Interview about Berlin and writing between languages
(blog) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winger, Anna Living people 1970 births 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women American emigrants to Germany American expatriates in Germany American radio producers American women non-fiction writers American women novelists American women radio producers Columbia College (New York) alumni International Emmy Award–winning screenwriters Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American novelists Jewish American screenwriters Jewish women writers The New York Times journalists Novelists from New York (state)