Günter Herburger's books have earned him several awards, among them the Literature Prize of the City of Bremen in 1973. He is a successful writer of novels, short stories, poems, children's literature, radio plays, and screenplays. Until 1970 his work was discussed mainly in connection with the Cologne School and its contemporary realism. Since then, Herburger has developed a distinct and unmistakable style of his own.

Herburger was born in Isny im Allgäu on 6 April 1932. After his father's death in 1943 he grew up in the home of his grandfather. He portrays himself as a loner in high school who had little interest in schoolwork and struggled to finish his education. In 1951 he began to study literature, drama, sociology, philosophy, and Sanskrit, first in Munich and then at the Sorbonne in Paris. Lack of money forced him to drop out after a few semesters, and he spent...