Lutz Seiler was born in 1963 in Gera, Thuringia. Today he lives and works as Director of the Peter Huchel House in Wilhelmshorst near Berlin. He was founder and co-editor of the literary journal moosbrand published by Janus Press, Berlin. His first collection was berührt / geführt (Oberbaum Verlag, 1997), and this was followed by pech & blende (Suhrkamp Verlag, 2000) and vierzig kilometer nacht (Suhrkamp, 2003). A collection of his essays, sonntags dachte ich an Gott , was published by Suhrkamp in 2004. His many awards include the Kranichsteiner Literature Prize (1999), the Poetry Prize of the der city of Meran (2000), the Dresden Poetry Prize (2000), the Anna Seghers Prize (2002 — with Rafael Gumucio), the Ernst Meister Prize of the city of Hagen (2003), the Bremen Literature Prize (2004), and the Literature Promotion Prize (one of the Berlin Art Prizes, 2006).