Günter de Bruyn was born in 1926 in Berlin and now lives in a Brandenburg village, where he works as a freelance writer. His two autobiographical books, Zwischenbilanz [Interim Balance] and Vierzig Jahre [Forty Years] created a furore when they were first published. He was awarded the 2002 German Prize for Literature for Preußens Luise [Luise of Prussia]. Günter de Bruyn’s numerous accolades include the Heinrich Mann Prize, the Thomas Mann Prize, the Literature Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Arts, the Jean-Paul Prize and, in 2002, the German National Prize.