Christoph Hein is a German author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and translator

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

.
He grew up in the village Bad Düben

Bad Düben

Bad Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the national park Dübener Heide , between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city center.-History:...

 near Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

. Being a clergyman's son and thus not allowed to attend the Erweiterte Oberschule, he received secondary education at a gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 in the western part of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. After his Abitur

Abitur

Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 he jobbed inter alia as assembler, bookseller and assistant director. From 1967 to 1971 Hein studied philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 in Leipzig and Berlin. Upon graduation he became dramatic adviser at the Volksbühne

Volksbühne

The Volksbühne is a theater in Berlin, Germany. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in what was the GDR's capital....

 in Berlin, where he worked a resident writer from 1974. 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 PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

-Centre.

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 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