Olen Steinhauer (born June 21, 1970 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) is an American writer of

spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

novels, including '' The Tourist'', part of the Milo Weaver series, and the Yalta Boulevard Sequence. Steinhauer also created the TV series '' Berlin Station'', focused on a fictional

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

branch operating in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, which began airing in 2016.

Early life

On June 21, 1970, Steinhauer was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, United States. Steinhauer grew up in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Education

Steinhauer attended university at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. He received an MFA in creative writing at

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Career

After graduation, Steinhauer received a year-long

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

grant to write a novel in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

about the Romanian Revolution. It was called ''Tzara's Monocle'', and when he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

afterward, he used that manuscript to secure a

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

. However, it was with another book, the historical mystery set in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

, ''The Bridge of Sighs'', that Steinhauer first found publication. His 2009 CIA novel, ''The Tourist'', received positive reviews and is being developed for film by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

for Doug Liman to direct. During the winter of 2009-10, Steinhauer was the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

's Institute for American Studies in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany.

Work

The Yalta Boulevard Sequence

''The Bridge of Sighs'' was the first in a five-book series of thrillers chronicling the evolution of a fictional Eastern European country situated in the historical location of

Ruthenia Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...

(now part of Ukraine) during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, with one book for each decade. Each book also focuses on a different main character. *''The Bridge of Sighs'' (2003) — Emil Brod, 1948 (nominated for five awards) *''The Confession'' (2004) — Ferenc Kolyeszar, 1956 *''36 Yalta Boulevard'' (2005) — Brano Sev, 1966–1967. Also published as ''The Vienna Assignment'' *''Liberation Movements'' (2006) — Brano Sev, Katja Drdova, Gavra Noukas, 1968 & 1975 (nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel). Also published as ''The Istanbul Variations'' *''Victory Square'' (2007) — The final book in the series, dealing with 1989, the end of communism, and the return to the main character of the first book, Emil Brod.

The Milo Weaver Series

* ''The Tourist'' (2009) — The first in a series of espionage novels focused on a central character, Milo Weaver. *'' The Nearest Exit'' (2010) *'' An American Spy'' (2012) *'' The Last Tourist'' (2020)

Standalone novels

* ''The Cairo Affair'' (2014) * ''All the Old Knives'' (2015) * ''The Middleman'' (2018)

References

External links

*
Contemporary Nomad
(edited by Steinhauer)

in ''The New York Times'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhauer, Olen 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American spy fiction writers American thriller writers American crime fiction writers Emerson College alumni Living people 1970 births Writers from Baltimore Novelists from Virginia Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Maryland Fulbright alumni