KATHRIN SCHMIDT
A German writer Kathrin Schmidt, a Berlin based author won the German Booker prize for her novel ‘Du Stirbst Nicht’ (You’re Not Going to Die). This book describes the painful story of a woman who woke up in the hospital with much of her memory lost and reconstructs her life. It is based on what Schmidt, a former psychologist in communist East Germany, observed in aphasia patients. This prize was instituted in 2004 to show the world that German fiction was highly readable. The prize, which is worth 25,000 euros ($37,000). She has published 12 works of poetry and prose, some of which have been translated into French and Italian.
BIOGRAPHY
Kathrin Schmid was born on March 12, 1958 in Gotha/Thuringia in 1964 and grew up in Waltershausen. After finishing school, she studied psychology at the university Jena. She completed the study in 1982 and joined as a research assistant at the university of Leipzig. She is also worked as a child psychologist at the hospital Rudersdorf. In the season 1986-87 she completed a special study at the Institute of Literature “Johannes R. Becher” in Leipzig. After the turn of GDR, she worked at the Round Table in East of Berlin. In 1990-91 she became the editor of the women’s magazine ‘Ypsilson’. After that she worked as Research assistant at the Berlin Institute for comparative social research. In 1994 she becomes a freelance writer. She is married and has five children. She published a lot of poetry. Her works are characterized by an unusual strict merit, powerful, sensuous language and frequent use of puns. In sometimes her novels are attributed to the wealth of history. She is also famous through her eloquent and overactive imagination. She got the biggest success through her autobiographical novel ‘Du Stirbst Nicht‘ in 2009. This was her fourth Novel, and it brings German Booker prize to her. She is a member of the pen centre Germany.
AWARDS AND HONORS
She has won several awards for her works. In 1988 she received the ‘Anna Seghers Prize’. She also wins the ‘Leonce and Lena Prize’, in 1993. In 1994 she won the ‘Merano Poetry Prize’. She also rceived a prize Value of Carinthia at the ‘Ingeborg Bachmann Competition in Klagenfurt’, 1998. In the same year, she also gained the ‘Heimito von Doderer Prize’. In 2001 she wins the ‘German critics prize’ . She achieved ‘Droste-Preis of the city of Meersburg’ in 2003. In this year she gained ‘Preis der SWR-scores’ and ‘German book prize’.
