Jenny Erpenbeck

DAAD Chair for Contemporary Poetics

March 1 - April 27 Spring 2022

Born in East Berlin in 1967, Jenny Erpenbeck is the author of several works of fiction including Wörterbuch (The Book of Words), Geschichte vom alten Kind (The Old Child), and Heimsuchung (Visitation). She won the Hans Fallada Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for her 2012 novel Aller Tage Abend (The End of Days). Her novel Gehen, ging, gegangen (Go, Went, Gone) was shortlisted for the Deutscher Buchpreis in 2017. Her collection of nonfiction essays, Kein Roman (Not a Novel), has been published in the US by New Directions and in the UK by Granta. In 2023, her new novel Kairos, recently published in Germany, will also be published in the English language as well. For her works, translated into 30 languages, she has also won several prizes such as the Thomas-Mann-Prize (Germany), the Premio Strega (Italy) and the Lee-Hochul-Prize (South Korea). She lives with her family in Berlin.

select publications

Geschichte vom alten Kind. 4. Aufl, btb, 1999.

“Cats Have Nine Lives.” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, translated by Di Brandt, vol. 41, no. 1, 2000, pp. 95–128.

Erpenbeck, Jenny. The Old Child & Other Stories. Translated by Susan Bernofsky. New Directions, 2001.

Erpenbeck, Jenny. The Book of Words. Translated by Susan Bernofsky. New Directions, 2005.

Heimsuchung: Roman. Eichborn Berlin, 2008.

Aller Tage Abend: Roman. 1. Aufl, Knaus, 2012.

Gehen, Ging, Gegangen: Roman. 1. Auflage, Knaus, 2015.

Kein Roman: Texte Und Reden 1992 Bis 2018. 1. Auflage, Penguin Verlag, 2018.

Kairos: Roman. 1. Auflage, Penguin Verlag, 2021.

Select Honors

Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace for "End of Days". South Korea, 2021.

"Visitation" at the Guardian List "100 Best Books of the 21st Century", Premi Libreter for "Go, Went, Gone". Catalonia,2019.

"Go, Went, Gone" at the New York Times Notable Book List, 2018.

"Premio Strega Europeo" for "Go, Went, Gone", Federal Cross of Merit. Italy, 2017.

Thomas-Mann-Prize, 2016.

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for "End of Days". UK, 2015.

European Literature Prize for "End of Days". Netherlands, 2015.

Fallada Prize for "End of Days", 2014.

"Prize of the Jury" at the Bachmann Competition for the short story "Siberia". Austria, 2001.

Writer in residence Ledig Rowohlt House. USA, 2001.