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

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

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 ''trans ...

. He grew up in the town

Bad Düben Bad Düben (), until 1948 Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the Düben Heath Nature Park (Düben Heath), between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city cente ...

near

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

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

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. 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 year ...

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

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in Leipzig and Berlin. Upon graduation, he became a dramatic adviser at the

Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The V ...

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 PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

-Centre. According to Hein, the acclaimed film drama ''

The Lives of Others ''The Lives of Others'' (, ) 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 Berlin residents by agents of the Stasi, Ea ...

'' 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 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 Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

,"'' 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 * 1983: Deutscher Kritikerpreis * 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 (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 (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

* 2000: Solothurner Literaturpreis * 2000: Zonser Hörspielpreis * 2002: Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship * 2002: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur * 2003: Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Stipendium * 2004: Schiller-Gedächtnispreis des Landes Baden-Württemberg * 2004: Ver.di-Literaturpreis Berlin-Brandenburg * 2008: Walter-Hasenclever-Literaturpreis * 2010: Eichendorff-Literaturpreis * 2011: Gerty-Spies-Literaturpreis * 2011: Honorary citizenship of

Jörg 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 * 2013: International Stefan Heym Prize * 2017: Grimmelshausen-Preis 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'' (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'' * ''Das Narrenschiff''. 2025. Novel, ''Ship of Fools'', not yet translated into English.

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