Sibylle Berg

Sibylle Berg (born June 2, 1962 in Weimar, former East Germany) is a writer. She writes novels, essays, short stories, and plays.

Life

She applied for permission to leave the East German state in the early 1980s and moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1984. In 1996, Berg moved to Zurich, Switzerland and was granted Swiss citizenship in 2012.

Writing

Her first novel "Ein paar Leute suchen das Glück und lachen sich tot" ("A few people seek happiness and laugh themselves to death") was published in 1994 and was later translated into 10 languages. Today it is taught in school classes in Germany and has sold approximately 400,000 copies.

Her second novel "SEX II" was published in 1998, followed by "Amerika" (1999; novel), "Gold" (2000; essays), "Das Unerfreuliche zuerst. Herrengeschichten" (2001; stories), "Ende gut" (2004; novel), "Habe ich dir eigentlich schon erzählt..." (2006; fairy tale), "Die Fahrt" (2007; novel), "Vier Stücke" (2008, plays), "Der Mann schläft" (2009; novel, nominated for German Book Prize 2009), "Vielen Dank für das Leben" (2012, novel, nominated for the Swiss Book Prize 2012), "Wie halte ich das nur alles aus?" (2013, essays).

Sibylle Berg also published books, including: "Und ich dachte, es sei Liebe. Abschiedsbriefe von Frauen" (2006), and "Das war's dann wohl. Abschiedsbriefe von Männern" (2008).

Sibylle Berg's works have been translated into 18 languages.

Theater

Berg was nominated for the Mülheim Dramatists Prize with her plays Ein paar Leute suchen das Glück und lachen sich tot (2000), Helges Leben (2001), Hund, Frau, Mann (2002), and Die goldenen letzten Jahre (2009). In 2009 Helges Leben was turned into an opera by Mark Moebius and Karola Obermüller and premiered at Theater Bielefeld. She has also published four plays in English, under the title Victor's Life. In 2008 she was awarded the Wolfgang Koeppen Prize, an award given by writers to writers.

Sibylle Berg's plays have been translated into 16 languages.

Radio plays

German broadcaster NDR produced "Ein paar Leute suchen das Glück und lachen sich tot" as a radio play in 2001 (director: Beate Andres). The radio version of "Ende gut" was produced by WDR. The radio version of "Das wird schon. Nie mehr Lieben!" was premiered in 2006 on NDR and was nominated as "Radio Play of The Month" by the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste.

Miscellaneous

Sibylle Berg writes for Der Spiegel and has been teaching dramaturgy at the ZHAW since 2013. She also founded the theatre collective Berg & Förster in 2013.

External links