John von Düffel

John von Düffel (born in 1966 in Göttingen), grew up in Londonderry, Ireland and Vermillion, South Dakota, USA. He studied Philosophy, Economics and German studies in Stirling, Scotland and Freiburg, Breisgau where he did his doctoral degree and subsequently became a theatre critic. Since 1991 he has been working as an author and literary manager. Whilst still studying, he made his literary debut with a radio play. He was nominated for the prestigious Mülheim Playwrights Award in 1995 and 1997 with the plays Solingen and Das schlechteste Theaterstück der Welt. He has been a guest lecturer at the German Literary Institute in Leipzig and the University of Hamburg and is Head of the Department for Stage Writing at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. In 1998, his first novel Vom Wasser (DuMont Verlag) was published an won numerous literary awards.