View source for Christoph Hein

{{short description|German author and translator (born 1944)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Christoph Hein
| image = Christoph Hein Leipziger Buchmesse 2016.jpg
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|4|8|df=y}}
| birth_place = Heinzendorf, Germany now [[Jasienica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship]], [[Poland]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = [[Novelist]], [[translation|translator]], [[Essayist]]
| nationality = [[Germany|German]]
| period = 1980–present
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| influences = 
| influenced = 
| awards = {{Awd|[[Heinrich Mann Prize]]|1982}}{{Awd|[[Erich Fried Prize]]|1990}}{{Awd|[[Solothurner Literaturpreis]]|2000}}{{Awd|[[Austrian State Prize for European Literature]]|2002}}
| website = {{URL|1=http://www.suhrkamp.de/autoren/autor.cfm?id=1845}}
}}

'''Christoph Hein''' ({{IPA|de|ˈkʁɪstɔf ˈhaɪn|lang|De-Christoph Hein.ogg}}; born 8 April 1944) is a German [[author]] and [[translation|translator]].
He grew up in the town [[Bad Düben]] near [[Leipzig]]. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule (EOS) in the [[GDR]], he received secondary education at a [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] in the western part of [[Berlin]].<ref name=SV>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suhrkamp.de/autoren/autor.cfm?id=1845|title=Christoph Hein auf suhrkamp.de}}</ref> After his ''[[Abitur]]'' he jobbed inter alia as assembler, bookseller and assistant director.<ref name=SV/> From 1967 to 1971 Hein studied [[philosophy]] in Leipzig and Berlin. Upon graduation, he became a dramatic adviser at the [[Volksbühne]] in Berlin, where he worked as a resident writer from 1974.<ref name=SV/> Since 1979 Hein has worked as a freelance writer.

Hein first became known for his 1982 novella ''Der fremde Freund'' (''The Distant Lover''). From 1998 to 2000 Hein was the first president of the pan-German [[International PEN|PEN]]-Centre.<ref name=SV/>

According to Hein, the acclaimed film drama ''[[The Lives of Others]]'' is loosely based on his life story. In a 2019 article, he claims that after attending the premiere screening, he asked author and director [[Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck|von Donnersmarck]] to have his name removed from the credits, because he felt that the movie was a ''"scary tale taking place in a fantasy land, comparable to Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]],"'' that ''"does not depict the 1980s in the GDR"''.<ref name="Zeitung 2019">{{cite web | title=Christoph Hein zu "Das Leben der Anderen": Ein Melodram, Warum ich meinen Namen aus "Das Leben der Anderen" löschen ließ |trans-title=Why I had my name deleted from 'The Lives of Others' | website=Süddeutsche.de | date=24 January 2019 | url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/donnersmarck-hein-das-leben-der-anderen-1.4300244 | language=de | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Source:<ref name="Home">{{cite web | title=Christoph Hein – Autorenlexikon | website=literaturport | url=https://www.literaturport.de/Christoph.Hein/ | language=de | access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.suhrkamp.de/autoren/christoph_hein_1845.pdf|title=Christoph Hein auf suhrkamp.de}}</ref>

* 1982: [[Heinrich Mann Prize]] of the [[Akademie der Künste der DDR]]
* 1983: [[Deutscher Kritikerpreis]]
* 1986: Mara-Cassens-Preis des Hamburger Literaturhauses für den Ersten Roman
* 1989: Stefan-Andres-Preis (Stadt Schweich an der Mosel)
* 1989: Lessing-Preis der DDR (Ministerium für Kultur)
* 1990: [[Erich Fried Prize]] (Wien)
* 1992: Ludwig-Mülheims-Theaterpreis für religiöse Dramatik
* 1992: Berliner Literaturpreis of the Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung
* 1994: [[Bundesverdienstkreuz|Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz]] (5. Oktober 1994)
* 1998: Peter-Weiss-Preis of the city of [[Bochum]]
* 2000: [[Solothurner Literaturpreis]]
* 2000: Zonser Hörspielpreis
* 2002: [[Brothers Grimm Poetics Professorship]]
* 2002: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur
* 2003: Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Stipendium
* 2004: [[Schiller-Gedächtnispreis]] des Landes Baden-Württemberg
* 2004: Ver.di-Literaturpreis Berlin-Brandenburg
* 2008: Walter-Hasenclever-Literaturpreis
* 2010: [[Eichendorff-Literaturpreis]]
* 2011: Gerty-Spies-Literaturpreis
* 2011: Honorary citizenship of [[Bad Düben]]<ref>Jörg Uhle-Wettler: ''[https://www.bad-dueben.de/rathaus/partnerschaften/ehrenbuerger/christoph-hein/ Laudatio für Herrn Christoph Hein zum Ehrenbürger der Stadt Bad Düben.]'' In: Stadtverwaltung Bad Düben, 13.&nbsp;April 2011, aufgerufen am 30. Dezember 2017.</ref>
* 2012: [[Uwe Johnson Prize]]
* 2013: International Stefan Heym Prize
* 2017: [[Grimmelshausen-Preis]] for ''Glückskind mit Vater''
* 2020: Kinderbuchpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (together illustrator [[Rotraut Susanne Berner]]) for ''Alles was Du brauchst – Die 20 wichtigsten Dinge im Leben''

==Works==
*''Die Witwe des Maurers'' (1980)
*''Frank, eine Kindheit mit Vätern'' (narrative, 1980)
*''Einladung zum Lever Bourgeois'' (narratives, 1980)
*''Cromwell und andere Stücke'' (plays, 1981)
*''Der fremde Freund'' (novella, 1982, in Western Germany: ''Drachenblut'', English translation ''The Distant Lover'')
*''Die wahre Geschichte des Ah Q'' (play, 1982)
*''Das Wildpferd unterm [[Cocklestove|Kachelofen]]'' (children's book, 1984)
*''Horns Ende (novel, 1985)
*''Schlötel oder Was solls'' (play, 1986)
*''Öffentlich arbeiten'' (essays and interviews, 1987)
*''Passage – ein Kammerspiel in drei Akten'' (play, 1987)
*''Die Ritter der Tafelrunde'' (play, 1989)
*''Der Tangospieler'' (narrative, 1989, English translation ''The Tango Player'')
*''Als Kind habe ich Stalin gesehen'' (essays and speeches, 1990)
*''Das Napoleon-Spiel'' (novel, 1993)
*''Exekution eines Kalbes und andere Erzählungen'' (narratives, 1994)
*''Randow – eine Komödie'' (play, 1994)
*''Von allem Anfang an'' (autobiography, 1997)
*''Willenbrock'' (novel, 2000, made into a movie in 2005, English translation ''Willenbrock'')
*''Mama ist gegangen'' (children's novel, 2003)
*''Landnahme'' (novel, 2004, English translation "Settlement" to be published November 2008)
*''In seiner frühen Kindheit ein Garten'' (novel, 2005)
*''Frau Paula Trousseau'' (novel 2007)
*''Über die Schädlichkeit des Tabaks. Rede an die Abiturienten des Jahrgangs 2009''
* ''Das Narrenschiff''. 2025. Novel, ''Ship of Fools'', not yet translated into English.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Christoph Hein}}

{{Austrian State Prize for European Literature}}
{{Solothurner Literaturpreis winners}}
{{Schiller Memorial Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hein, Christoph}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Ziębice]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Lower Silesia]]
[[Category:East German writers]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:Aufstehen]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin]]
[[Category:Heinrich Mann Prize winners]]
[[Category:Schiller Memorial Prize winners]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]