Claudius Pläging was born in 1975 and worked as an editor at ZDF. From 2002 until 2016  he was staff writer at TV total and various other TV shows. Currently he works as a freelance author and scriptwriter. Pläging lives in Cologne with his family.

Georg Pieper is a psychotherapist with his own office for trauma and stress management and works in an psychological emergency center in Mönchengladbach. The psychologist is known as a specialist on the area of trauma therapy and worked among others with victims, relatives and action forces of the mine disaster in Borken, the airshow disaster in Ramstein and the German victims of the hostage-taking in Libanon as well as victims and relatives of the train catastrophe at Eschede.
Georg Pieper lives with his family in Friedberthausen, a small town between Marburg and Gießen, in a biologically constructed and ecologically run housing complex. He wrote his book alternately under a lime and a walnut tree and in winter in front of the stove.

Simon Riesche, born in 1982, is a journalist and has already reported from many regions of the world. In recent years, he has worked for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, RTL and the foreign desk of Südwestrundfunk, among others. From January 2023, he will head the ARD studio in Cairo and report on the Arab world as a correspondent. His travelogue Zwischen Sansibar und Haifischinsel will be published by Knesebeck in summer 2023.

Lisa Roy was born in Leipzig in 1990 and grew up in the Ruhr. She holds a BA in Literarary Studies and Theology an studies Creative Writing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Lisa Roy has published in different literary magazines and anthologies. For the manuscript of her debut novel Keine gute Geschichte she received the Rolf Dieter Brinkmann grant awarded by the city of Cologne and the GWK award for the most promising young writer. She lives with friends and family in Cologne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Konstantin Richter was born in Berlin in 1971. He went to university in Edinburgh and New York, and then became a journalist working for the Wall Street Journal and other English language media. His three novels "Bettermann“ (2007), „Kafka war jung und er brauchte das Geld“ (2011) and „Die Kanzlerin — Eine Fiktion“ (2017) were published by the Swiss publisher Kein & Aber. Today, Richter is writing for German media such as Die Zeit, Die Welt and the US news platform Politico, on a regular basis. In 2011, he was awarded the Deutscher Reporterpreis (German Reporter Award) for a feature on opera houses in Germany.

Lukas Rietzschel was born in 1994 in Raecklewitz, East-Saxony, and currently lives in the city of Goerlitz. His debut novel Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen (Punching the World) was a bestseller, and was adapted for the stage. The novel was nominated for the aspekte award, and received the Gellert Award. In 2021, Lukas Rietzschel's first dramatic text premiered at the Leipzig Theatre: Widerstand (Resistance). In 2022, Rietzschel published his second novel, Raumfahrer (Spaceman). In the same year, he was awarded the Saechsischer Literaturpreis (Literary Award of Saxony). In 2023 he will be writer-in-residence at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles. 

 

Sebastian 23, born Sebastian Rabsahl, has studied philosophy, lives in Bochum but remains cheerful.

As writer, performer, poetry slammer and comedian he has performed more than 2000 times over the last fifteen years – on stages ranging from small clubs to the big theatres of the German-speaking countries. 3sat broadcasted his show Popcorn im Kopfkino, he guested on the NDR Talk Show, TV Total, Quatsch Comedy Club and at his mum’s 60^th birthday.

He also won some neat cabaret awards and in 2008 became poetry slam vice world champion in Paris. Numerous collections of his texts have appeared as books and CDs.

 

Julia Rothenburg was born in 1990 in Berlin. She studied Sociology and Political Science in Freiburg and Berlin. In 2015, she won the Retzhof Award for Young Literature for the manuscript Koslik ist krank (Koslik is sick). In 2017, her debut novel Koslik ist krank was published by the Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt. Her second book, hell/dunkel (light/dark) followed in 2019. In the same year she was awarded a one-year scholarship for literature by the German State of Baden-Württemberg. Also in 2019, Koslik ist krank was made into a radio play for the public channel NDR, which was nominated for the Deutscher Hörspielpreis (German Radio Play Award) in 2020. In 2021, she received the Bayern2-Wortspiele-Award for her third novel, Mond über Beton.

 

Katja Reim was born in 1974 and visited the Axel Springer School for Journalists. She worked as an editor at the Mexican news agency Cimac, studied political and social science in Barcelona. Today she lives in Berlin and is head of department at the Berliner Kurier. In her weblog meincomputerkind.de she writes about the media education of her little daughter. She moderates discussion panels and gives lectures about the question how parents can transfer analogue values into the virtual world in such ways that their children will be prepared for their digital puberty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lola Renn was born in Berlin. She studied art in London and Freiburg and since 1998 works as an illustrator. Drei Songs später is her first novel and was published by bloomoon in 2013.