Thomas Brussig

Thomas Brussig.

Thomas Brussig (born 1964) is a German writer best known for his satirical novels that deal with the German Democratic Republic.

Life

Brussig was born in East Berlin. After attending the "Heinrich-Hertz" School, he went on to train as a builder. In 1984 he finished school and training, and served in the East German National People's Army (German: Nationale Volksarmee or NVA). Brussig found it difficult to wield a weapon and had a hard time. He worked as a museum guard, cleaner and hotel porter among a variety of other odd jobs until the early 90s. In 1990 he studied sociology at the Free University of Berlin. He changed universities 3 years later to study the art of film-making. He graduated in the year 2000.

Thomas Brussig commutes back and forth from Berlin to Mecklenburg as a writer and is married.

Works

Brussig's first novel, Wasserfarben ("Watercolors") was published in 1991 under the pseudonym "Cordt Berneburger." In 1995, he published his breakthrough novel, Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us, FSG 1997), which dealt with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book was a critical and commercial success and was later turned into a movie. Two movies of his books have been released, "Helden wie wir" and "Sonnenallee".

Bibliography

• 1991 Wasserfarben ("Watercolors")
• 1995 Helden wie wir (Heroes Like Us. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997)
• 1999 Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee ("At the Shorter End of Sonnenallee")
• 2001 Leben bis Männer ("Life until the Men's Team")
• 2004 Wie es leuchtet ("How It Shines")
• 2007 Berliner Orgie ("Berlin Orgy")
• 2007 Schiedsrichter Fertig ("Referee Ready")

Filmography

• 1999: Sonnenallee – Dir. Leander Haußmann (with Detlev Buck, Robert Stadlober, Alexander Beyer)
• Thomas Brussig at IMDb

Awards

• 2000 Hans Fallada Prize

External links

• www.thomasbrussig.de – Homepage of the author.
• ub.fu-berlin.de – Thomas Brussig link collection
• Thomas Brussig at IMDb