Maxim Biller (born 25 August 1960 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) is a German writer and columnist. Born in Prague to Russian Jewish parents, he emigrated with his parents and sister to Germany in 1970, when he was ten years old. After living for a long time in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, he now lives in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, frequently writing about issues relating to Jews and Germans. In 2003 his novel '' Esra'' excited attention when its sale was prohibited shortly after its release. Two persons had a provisional order obtained, because they claimed to have seen themselves reflected in characters in the book. A German court obliged their request to take the book from circulation on these grounds. His first works translated into English (by

Anthea Bell Anthea Bell (10 May 1936 – 18 October 2018) was an English translator of literary works, including children's literature, from French, German and Danish. These include '' The Castle'' by Franz Kafka, '' Austerlitz'' by W. G. Sebald, the '' I ...

) are the collection ''Love Today'' (2008), some of which appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

.''

Publications

*''Wenn ich einmal reich und tot bin: Erzählungen'' (''Someday when I'm rich and dead: Narratives''), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1990, (including the narrative ''Harlem Holocaust'') *''Die Tempojahre: Essays und Reportagen'', Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1991, *''Aufbruch nach Deutschland: Sechzehn Foto-Essays'' *''Land der Väter und Verräter: Erzählungen'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1994, *''Harlem Holocaust'' (short novel), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1998, *''Die Tochter'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2000, *''Kühltransport'', 2001 *''Deutschbuch'', 2001 * '' Esra : Roman'', 2003, (distribution was prohibited from publishing by court) *''Der perfekte Roman: Das Maxim-Biller-Lesebuch'', 2003 *''Bernsteintage: Erzählungen'', 2004 *''Maxim Biller Tapes'' (CD with songs and poems), 2004 *''I Love My Leid'' (video), 2004 *''Moralische Geschichten: Satirische Kurzgeschichten'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2005 *''Adas größter Wunsch'' (children's book), 2005 *''Menschen in falschen Zusammenhängen'' (comedy), 2006 *''Liebe heute'' (short stories), 2007 *''Ein verrückter Vormittag'' (children's book), 2008 *''Der gebrauchte Jude'' (self-portrait), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2009, *''Kanalratten'' (theater play), Fischer 2013 *''Im Kopf von

Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz (12 July 1892 – 19 November 1942) was a Polish writer, fine artist, literary critic and art teacher. He is regarded as one of the great Polish-language prose stylists of the 20th century. In 1938, he was awarded the Polish Acade ...

: Novelle'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2013, *''Jack Happy'' (children's book), Atlantik, Hamburg 2014, *''Biografie: Roman'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2016,

Awards

*1994

Toucan Prize The Toucan Prize (german: Tukan-Preis) is a literary prize given by the city of Munich to the best new publication by a Munich author. It has been awarded since 1965 and is endowed with 6,000 Euros. Recipients *1965 Paul Mommertz, Georg Schwar ...

from the city of Munich *1996 Preis des Europäischen Feuilletons: "Feuilleton" are the culture pages in German speaking newspaper *1996 *1999

Theodor Wolff Prize The Theodor Wolff Prize is a German journalism prize. It has been awarded annually since 1962 in five categories, equal prizes of €6,000, by the . In addition, at irregular intervals, journalists are awarded the Theodor Wolff Prize for their life ...

*2008 of

University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 profe ...

Press release by Universität Kassel
zur Grimm-Professur, 11. Dezember 2008. *2012 Würth-Literaturpreis

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biller, Maxim 1960 births Czechoslovak emigrants to Germany Czech people of Russian-Jewish descent German people of Czech-Jewish descent German people of Russian-Jewish descent German male writers Jewish Czech writers Living people Writers from Prague