Robert Löhr (born 17 January 1973) is a German

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is best known for his

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

''Der Schachautomat'', 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 language, Danish. These include ''The Castle (novel), The Castle'' by Franz Kafka, ''Aus ...

as ''The Chess Machine''. (''The Secrets of the Chess Machine'' in the UK). His work has been largely collected by libraries.

Life and career

Robert Löhr was born in

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 ...

and brought up in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

and

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. He went to journalism school in Berlin and studied North American and German literature at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

before attending the

Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB, German Film and Television Academy Berlin) is a film school in Berlin, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Ba ...

to become a screenwriter. Starting in 2005, he has written four

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

on topics such as the chess-playing turk, the fabled

Sängerkrieg The ''Sängerkrieg'' (minstrel contest), also known as the ''Wartburgkrieg'' (Wartburg contest), was a contest among minstrels ('' Minnesänger'') at the Wartburg, a castle in Thuringia, Germany, in 1207. Whether the contest was purely legend or ...

and the friendship of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

Bibliography

* ''Der Schachautomat'', Piper, Munich 2005. * ''Das Erlkönig-Manöver'', Piper, Munich 2007. * ''Das Hamlet-Komplott'', Piper, Munich 2010. * ''Krieg der Sänger'', Piper, Munich 2012. * ''Erika Mustermann'', Piper, Munich 2013.

References

John David Pizer (2011): ''Imagining the Age of Goethe in German Literature'', 1970-2010. Camden House. .

External links

*
www.robert-loehr.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Löhr, Robert German male novelists 1973 births Living people Free University of Berlin alumni Writers from Berlin German screenwriters German male screenwriters 21st-century German novelists 21st-century German male writers 21st-century German screenwriters