Ralf Rothmann (born 10 May 1953 in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein) is a German novelist, poet, and dramatist. His novels have been translated into several languages, with Knife Edge (Messers Schneide) and Young Light (Junges Licht) being translated into English. The main subjects of his work are the bourgeois and proletarian realities of life in the Ruhr area (e.g., Stier, Wäldernacht, Milch und Kohle) as well as Berlin (Flieh mein Freund, Hitze, Feuer brennt nicht), with an autobiographically colored focus on alienation, the attempt to escape these situations, and common solitude. Feuer brennt nicht (2009) is a moving portrait of an artist-writer torn between two women paying a high price for infidelity. It is now (2012) available in English translation as Fire doesn't burn, published by Seagull Books.
Works
Messers Schneide (stories). 1986. - engl. edition as Knife Edge. 1992
Kratzer und andere Gedichte (poems). 1987. Der Windfisch (story). 1988. Stier (novel). 1991. Wäldernacht (novel). 1994. Berlin Blues. Ein Schauspiel (play). Flieh, mein Freund! (novel). 1998. Milch und Kohle (novel). 2000. Gebet in Ruinen (poems). 2000. Ein Winter unter Hirschen (stories). 2001. Hitze (novel). 2003. Junges Licht (novel). 2004. - engl. edition Young Light. 2010 Rehe am Meer (stories). 2006. Feuer brennt nicht (novel). 2009. - engl. edition Fire Doesn't Burn. Seagull Books, , 2012 Im Frühling sterben (novel). 2015. - engl. edition To Die in Spring. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, , 2017 Der Gott jenes Sommers (novel). 2018.
Awards
1986: for Kratzer
1992: 1992/1993: Stadtschreiber von Bergen 1996: 2001: Hermann-Lenz-Preis 2002: Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis 2003: Evangelischer Buchpreis 2004: Wilhelm-Raabe-Literaturpreis 2004: Rheingau Literatur Preis, Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize 2005: Heinrich-Böll-Preis 2006: Max Frisch Prize of the City of Zürich 2007: Erik-Reger-Preis 2008: Literaturpreis der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 2008: Hans Fallada Prize 2010: 2013: Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis of the City of Bad Homburg 2014: 2016: Stefan-Andres-Preis 2017: Kleist Prize 2017: Gerty-Spies-Literaturpreis 2018: Premio San Clemente (Spain) 2018: Uwe Johnson Prize 2018: HWA Gold Crown for Historical Fiction (England)