Julia Franck

Julia Franck, born in 1970 in East Berlin, relocated in 1978 with her family to West Germany and lived in Schleswig-Holstein until 1983. At the age of thirteen she moved to friends of the family in Berlin. She studied Law and later Ancient American, Recent German Literature and Philosophy. During her study she stayed for several months in the USA, in Mexico and Guatemala.  In 1995 Julia Franck won her first literary competition: the Open Mike in Berlin. In 1997 she published her debut novel Der neue Koch [The New Chef]. This was followed by more novels and the volume of stories Bauchlandung [Belly Landing]. In 2005 she lived in Rome for a year in the Villa Massimo. Julia Franck has received several awards. In 2007 she received the German Book Prize for her novel Die Mittagsfrau (title of the English translation: Lady Midday).