Hanns-Josef Ortheil

Hanns-Josef Ortheil (born 5 November 1951, in Cologne ) is a German author, scholar of German literature, and pianist. He has written many autobiographical and historical novels, some of which have been translated into 11 languages, according to WorldCat: French, Dutch, Modern Greek, Spanish, Chinese, Lithuanian, Japanese, Slovenian, and Russian.

Biography He was born the fifth son in an educated family; his mother, Mary Catherine Ortheil, was a librarian and his father a railroad surveyor and director. As a child, he did not speak, because his mother had temporarily lost her speech, following the loss of four sons during the Second World War. In 2006 he was appointed as honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg. 1981 Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für Literatur 2007 Nicolas Born Prize 2009 2016 Hannelore Greve Literature Prize

Lectureships in poetics WS 1993/1994 Lectureship in poetics at the University of Paderborn WS 1994/1995 Lectureship in poetics at Bielefeld University WS 1998/1999 Poetics lectureship at the University of Heidelberg WS 2005/2006 Poetics lectureship at the University of Zürich SS 2007 Professorship in poetry at the University of Bamberg