Maxim Biller (born 25 August 1960 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a German writer and columnist.
Born in Prague to Russian Jewish parents, Rada Biller and Semjon-Jevsej Biller. He emigrated with his parents and sister to Germany in 1970, when he was ten years old.[1] After living for a long time in Hamburg and Munich, he now lives in Berlin, frequently writing about issues relating to Jews and Germans.[2] His maternal grandfather was Armenian.[3]
In 2003 his novel Esra excited attention when its sale was prohibited shortly after its release. Two persons had a provisional order obtained, because they claimed to have seen themselves reflected in characters in the book. A German court obliged their request to take the book from circulation on these grounds.[4][5]
His first works translated into English (by Anthea Bell) are the collection Love Today (2008), some of which appeared in The New Yorker.[6]
Biller strongly identifies as a Zionist and is critical of antisemitism within the anti-Zionist movement.[7]
Publications
- Wenn ich einmal reich und tot bin: Erzählungen (Someday when I'm rich and dead: Narratives), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-423-11624-2 (including the narrative Harlem Holocaust)
 - Die Tempojahre: Essays und Reportagen, Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-423-11427-4
 - Aufbruch nach Deutschland: Sechzehn Foto-Essays
 - Land der Väter und Verräter: Erzählungen, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1994, ISBN 3-423-12356-7
 - Harlem Holocaust (short novel), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-462-02761-1
 - Die Tochter, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-423-12933-6
 - Kühltransport, 2001
 - Deutschbuch, 2001
 - Esra : Roman, 2003, ISBN 3-462-03213-5 (distribution was prohibited from publishing by court)
 - Der perfekte Roman: Das Maxim-Biller-Lesebuch, 2003
 - Bernsteintage: Erzählungen, 2004
 - Maxim Biller Tapes (CD with songs and poems), 2004
 - I Love My Leid (video), 2004
 - Moralische Geschichten: Satirische Kurzgeschichten, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2005 ISBN 3-462-03477-4
 - Adas größter Wunsch (children's book), 2005
 - Menschen in falschen Zusammenhängen (comedy), 2006
 - Liebe heute (short stories), 2007
 - Ein verrückter Vormittag (children's book), 2008
 - Der gebrauchte Jude (self-portrait), Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-462-03703-6
 - Kanalratten (theater play), Fischer 2013 ISBN 978-3-596-19007-2
 - Im Kopf von Bruno Schulz: Novelle, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-462-04605-2
 - Jack Happy (children's book), Atlantik, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 3-455-37008-X
 - Biografie: Roman, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-462-04898-8
 
Awards
- 1994 Toucan Prize from the city of Munich
 - 1996 Preis des Europäischen Feuilletons: "Feuilleton" are the culture pages in German speaking newspaper
 - 1996 Otto Stoessl Prize
 - 1999 Theodor Wolff Prize
 - 2008 Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship of University of Kassel[8]
 - 2012 Würth-Literaturpreis
 
References
- ↑ "Maxim Biller — internationales literaturfestival berlin".
 - ↑ "A Botanical Garden of Desire: 'Love Today' by Maxim Biller". The New York Sun. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
 - ↑ "Partisan Songs". Die Zeit. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
 - ↑ "Top German court confirms ban on true-life novel". Earthtimes.org. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
 - ↑ Natascha Freundel (12 April 2007). "The bad German". Haaretz. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
 - ↑ "The Mahogany Elephant" (July 2007), "The Maserati Years" (September 2007).
 - ↑ "A German-Jewish Zionist Explains Why Anti-Semitism Is All the Same". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
 - ↑ Press release by Universität Kassel Archived 17 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine zur Grimm-Professur, 11. Dezember 2008.