Biographical note

Poet and novelist Kathrin Schmidt was born in 1958 in Gotha in the former German Democratic Republic and lives in Berlin. She trained as a psychologist and later worked as an editor and a social scientist before writing full time. Her voice is held to be distinctly of the east. In 1993 she was awarded the Leonce-und-Lena Preis for her poetry. Multiple awards and residencies for her six poetry volumes and five novels have ensued, a highlight being the German Book Prize for her 2009 novel Du stirbst nicht which beat a shortlist including Nobel Prize winner Herta Muller and was soon translated into thirteen languages. At last an English translation by Christina Les, You're not dying, is in progress, to be published 2021, while Schmidt's short story collection Finito. Schwamm druber (It's over. Don't go there) will be published in late 2021 translated by Sue Vickerman. Schmidt's latest poetry collection is waschplatz der kuhlen dinge (2018) addressing globalisation and migration using the language of politics, advertising and the internet. (2020)