Kathrin Schmidt was born in Gotha in 1958 and grew up in the neighbouring small town of Walterhausen. She studied psychology in Jena and graduated in 1981. After several years as a child psychologist, she sat 1989/90 at the Round Table Berlin and became editor of the East Berlin women's magazine Ypsilon in 1990. In 1991, she joined the Berlin Institute for Comparative Social Research, where she focused on the situation of ethnic minorities in the Baltic States. She has been working as a freelance author since November 1994.  


Publications (Selection)

2018 | waschplatz der kühlen dinge, poems, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln
2016 | Tiefer Schafsee und andere Erzählungen, Leipziger Bibliophilenabend
2016 | Kapoks Schwestern, novel, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln
2011 | Finito. Schwamm drüber., short prose, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln
2011 | Du sagen. Dir schreiben. Essay, Leipziger Bibliophilenabend
2010 | blinde bienen, poems, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln.
2009 | Du stirbst nicht, novel, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln
2005 | Seebachs schwarze Katzen, novel, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln


Awards (Selection)

2018 | ver.di-Literaturpreis
2013 | Thüringer Literaturpreis
2010 | Fellowship at Villa Massimo, Rom
2009 | Deutscher Buchpreis