Tanja Kinkel (born 27 September 1969) is a German writer who is known, among other things, as the author of several

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 ...

. She lives in Munich.

Life and work

Tanja Kinkel grew up in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

and began writing stories and poems at the age of eight. In 1978, she won a youth literature prize and in 1979 she wrote her first novel. In 1987, she received first prize in the Franconian Youth Literature Competition for the best individual text. After graduating from the Kaiser-Heinrich-Gymnasium in Bamberg, she began studying

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

studies at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1988. In 1991, Kinkel received a scholarship at the

University of Television and Film Munich The University of Television and Film Munich (German: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, short: HFF Munich) is a publicly funded film school in Munich, Germany. The school was established in 1966 by decree of the Bavarian government. T ...

, which she used to study screenwriting. This was followed in 1992 by a sponsorship award from the Free State of Bavaria for young writers. In the same year she founded the registered association "Bread and Books", which promotes the education of children in Africa, Germany and India. In 1995, she was sponsored by the German Ministry of the Interior at the " Casa Baldi" in Olevano Romano near Rome and in 1996 she received a scholarship at the

Villa Aurora The Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, has been an artists' residence since 1995. It is the former home of the German Jewish author Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. The Feuchtwangers bought this Spanish-style ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1997, she received her doctorate with a thesis on the work of

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

. In 2001 she was a founding member of the International Feuchtwanger Society in Los Angeles. From 2001 she was on the advisory board of the

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

book sales club A book sales club is a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book discussion club, which can cause confusion. Business model Each member of a ...

until its dissolution at the end of 2002. Tanja Kinkel und Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu 01

Kinkel is a member of the

PEN Centre Germany PEN Centre Germany is part of the worldwide association of writers founded in London in 1921, now known as PEN International. One of over 140 autonomous PEN centres around the world, PEN Centre Germany is based in Darmstadt, Hesse. Work PEN Ce ...

and the Federal Association of Young Authors (BVjA). She has been a member of the Munich Tower Writers since 2004. In 2006, the Bavarian State Ministry for Education, Culture, Science and Art appointed her to the board of trustees of the International Artists' House Villa Concordia, Bamberg. In the same year, Kinkel was recognized as a creative achiever at the 100 Minds of Tomorrow exhibition. In 2007, she became patron of the Federal Children's Hospice Association. At the end of 2002, she took part in a homage to

Michael Ende Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende (12 November 1929 – 28 August 1995) was a German writer of fantasy and children's fiction. He is known for his epic fantasy '' The Neverending Story'' (with its 1980s film adaptation and a 1995 animated television ...

's ''

The Neverending Story ''The Neverending Story'' () is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. It was later adapted into a film series and a television series. Plot T ...

''. The result of her engagement with Ende's fantasy world was the novel ''The King of Fools'', published in 2003. In 2015, with ''Sleep of Reason'', she dedicated herself for the first time to a topic from the recent past, the

German Autumn The German Autumn () refers to the period and political atmosphere in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) during September and October 1977. This period was marked by a series of attacks by the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left mili ...

of 1977. In 2017, Kinkel was a tower clerk in the small town of Abenberg in Central Franconia, the first woman to hold this position. As a result of her work there, she published the volume of short stories ''Voices from Abenberg''. Also in 2017, the film adaptation of her third novel ''The Puppeteers'' was broadcast as a television film in two parts on ARD. In 2020, her first series, ''The Prison Doctor'', designed for listening, was published by the audio book provider

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

. Since 2015 she has been a guest lecturer at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

; teaching in the module "History and Media: How History Comes to the Media". Since 2018, she is guest lecturer at the

; teaching assignment "Research". Since December 2019, she is president of the International Feuchtwanger Society, Los Angeles.

Works

Novels

Short stories

* 2017 ''Voices from Abenberg''

Stage plays

* 2002 premiere of the

flash drama Flash drama is a type of theatrical play that does not exceed ten minutes in duration, hence the name. Groups of four to six flash drama plays are popular with school, university and community drama companies since they offer a wide variety of rol ...

''Judgment of God'' on the cathedral square in Bamberg * 2007 ''You should give to the emperor what is the emperor's'' and ''Pray for us sinners''

Audio plays

* 2020 ''The Prison Doctor'', Audible audio book series

Awards

* 2000: Culture Prize of the Upper Franconian Economy (IHK for Upper Franconia) * 2009: St. Michael's Association Social Prize "St. Michael's Coat" for founding the Bread and Books Association. * 2014: Culture Prize of the Upper Franconian Foundation * 2015: Golden Homer in the Biography category for ''Manduchai – The Last Warrior Queen'' * 2018: E.-T.-A.-Hoffmann Prize of the City of Bamberg * 2021:

Bavarian Order of Merit The Bavarian Order of Merit () is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people". The or ...

Literature

* Lutz Backes: ''Tanja Kinkel.'' In: ders.: ''Fränkische Köpfe, von Albrecht Dürer bis Markus Söder ranconian Minds, from Albrecht Dürer to Markus Söder'. PH. C. W. Schmidt, Neustadt a.d. Aisch 2022, ISBN 978-3-87707-256-1, p. 122f.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinkel, Tanja 1969 births Living people Writers from Munich People from Bamberg 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German novelists 21st-century German women writers German women novelists Women from Bavaria