Dietmar Dath

Dietmar Dath (born 3 April 1970) is a German author, journalist and translator.

Born in Rheinfelden, Dath grew up in Schopfheim, Germany, and finished high school in Freiburg. After civilian service he studied German studies and physics in Freiburg. He lives in Freiburg, Frankfurt and Leipzig.

Since 1990 he has published articles and short stories in German and international newspapers and magazines on sociological, philosophical and cultural topics. Besides his real name, he has been known to use pseudonyms such as "David Dalek", "Dagmar Dath" or "Dieter Draht". In his early career he translated works by Joe Lansdale, Kodwo Eshun and Buddy Giovinazzo into German. Dath was chief editor of the magazine Spex from 1998 to 2000. From 2001 to 2007 he was an editor for the Arts section at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Apart from writing novels and book-length essays, since 2009 he has worked on several projects with musicians such as Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Mouse on mars and Jens Friebe. After a professional break during which he wrote novels, two plays and some poetry, in September 2011 he returned as a full-time Arts section editor and film critic to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Dath's first books were published in the mid-nineties by various small publishers such as Verbrecher Verlag, SuKuLTuR, Edition Phantasia and later Hablizel. In 2003 Dath published Höhenrausch at the Eichborn-Verlag (now at Rowohlt) and since 2005 he has been with the Suhrkamp Verlag. In 2008 his science fiction novel Abschaffung der Arten (translated by Samuel P. Willcocks into English as Abolition of the Species) was shortlisted for the German Book prize. Furthermore, the novel was awarded 2009 the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis. Translations of Dietmar Dath's works (mainly novels) have appeared in Russian, Greek, Polish, and English. In his novels, which are mostly in the vein of fantastic literature – horror, sf and fantasy - Dath often works with autobiographical topics. A lot of them feature people who live in small towns such as the one he came from, many characters also work in the media or other sectors of the culture industry. Dath's works deal with aesthetics as well as social, political, sexual, biological and gender issues in often science-fictional ways. Among his influences are writers as diverse as Harlan Ellison, Joanna Russ, Nicola Griffith, Carol Emshwiller, Theodore Sturgeon, Irmtraud Morgner and Peter Hacks.

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