Volker Braun (Germany) was born
on May 7, 1939 in Dresden. After high school he worked in a printing
office, then as a pipe fitter and later as a machinist in surface
mining. He also studied philosophy in Leipzig. In 1965 he got
a call from Helene Weigel to join the Berliner Ensemble. There
his first stage play, Die Kipper, was produced and subsequently
forbidden. He then worked at the Deutsches Theater/German Theatre
in Berlin and at the Berliner Ensemble from 1979 till 1990. He
is a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin-Brandenburg
(Academy of Arts Berlin-Brandenburg) and of the Deutsche Akademie
für Sprache und Dichtung (German Academy of Language and
Poetry). In 2000, he received the Georg-Büchner-Preis, one
of Germany's most prestigious literary awards.
