Axel Brauns (born 2 July 1963) is a German writer and filmmaker.

Biography

Brauns was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, West Germany, and spent the first two years of his life in the quarter

Eimsbüttel Eimsbüttel () is one of the seven boroughs (Bezirke) of Hamburg, Germany. In 2020, the borough had a population of 269,118. History On March 1, 2008 Eimsbüttel lost part of its area to the borough Altona where it formed the Sternschanze quar ...

. In 1965, his family moved to Hamburg-Groß Flottbek. There Brauns went to a kindergarten, an elementary school and a gymnasium, where he did 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 year ...

'' at 19 years of age. He then began studying for a degree in Business Administration and Law at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

, but left it in 1984 to focus on writing. In 2000, Brauns founded a literary salon, and since 2002, he has been working as a

tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations ...

Career as writer and filmmaker

Brauns wrote an autobiography called ''Buntschatten und Fledermäuse – Leben in einer anderen Welt'' (''Coloured Shadows and Bats – Living in Another World''), which was published in 2002 and describes his childhood and his experiences growing up with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

. He won the Literaturförderpreis der Stadt Hamburg for an excerpt from it, after which

Hoffmann und Campe Hoffmann is a German surname. People A * Adolph Hoffmann (1858–1930), German politician * Albert Hoffmann (1846–1924), German horticulturist * Alexander Hoffmann (born 1975), German politician * Andrew Hoffman (born 2000), American baseball ...

offered to publish it. ''Coloured Shadows and Bats'' came out in 2002, and reached the bestseller list of ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' in the same year. In 2003, Brauns was nominated for the

Deutscher Bücherpreis The Deutscher Bücherpreis (English: ''German Book Prize'') was a non-monetary prize for literature which was awarded at the Leipzig Book Fair by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association from 2002 to 2004. After September 2004, the Assoc ...

, in the category "Most successful debut". In 2004, Brauns produced his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

, called ''Tsunami und Steinhaufen''. It premiered in 2008. In September 2004, Brauns's novel ''Kraniche und Klopfer'' came out. It tells the story of a fictional girl named Adina Adelung, who lives in a house with her brother and mother. Her mother constantly brings rubbish (to which she is addicted) into her house. Eventually, Adina finds the path for a new life by meeting a woman called Erla Meier, who takes her to see cranes in a natural reserve. In 2006, Brauns published the

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

''Tag der Jagd''.

Writings

*''Buntschatten und Fledermäuse – Leben in einer anderen Welt'' (''Coloured Shadows and Bats – Living in Another World''). Hoffmann und Campe, 2002, . *''Kraniche und Klopfer.'' Goldmann, 2004, . *''Tag der Jagd.'' Hoffmann und Campe, 2006, .

References

*''A portion of this article was translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia.''

External links

* *
Wie der Autist Axel Brauns ein Filmemacher wurde
nbsp;– article on Brauns in ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'' (27 February 2009)
Erfahrungen eines Autisten (3'43'')
nbsp;– interview with Brauns at Planet Wissen
„Buntschatten und Fledermäuse“
nbsp;– six audio extracts from the German original of Braun's ''Coloured Shadows and Bats'', at GEO.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Brauns, Axel 1963 births 21st-century German writers 21st-century German male writers German autobiographers Film people from Hamburg German male non-fiction writers Living people People from Eimsbüttel University of Hamburg alumni German writers with disabilities Autistic writers Film directors with disabilities