Michael Krausnick is a German writer, screenplay and radio author. Born in Berlin in 1943, Krausnick grew up in Hanover and then moved to Heidelberg in 1962 to study literature and sociology. He completed his doctoral thesis in 1973 on ‘Paul Heyse and the Munich Circle of Poets’. As a student he co-founded and wrote for the student cabaret group, Kneifzange, and chaired the student radio club.

Krausnick has contributed to over 120 TV productions as a screenwriter. In 1976 he wrote his screenplay for the feature film Grandison, which takes place in Heidelberg, as do many of his later works focusing on historical topics from the region. Not only has he published over thirty books, he has also written plays for the most important theatres in northern Baden, texts for the cabaret group Die Stachelbären, material for Düsseldorf comedian ‘der deutsche Michel’ and solo programmes for Thomas Freitag. Krausnick is known for his satires, radio plays, historical books, biographies as well as poems and stories for children and young people. His biography of the March revolutionist Georg Herwegh, The Iron Lark, garnered the most attention, receiving the German Children’s Literature Prize in 1991.

Filmography

1994 Auf Wiedersehen im Himmel (Goodbye in Heaven), won 2005 ARD Civis Media Prize

Awards

1977 Screenplay Award from the Federal Ministry of the Interior for Grandison

1984 Shortlisted for the German Children’s Literature Prize

1984 Shortlisted for the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize for children’s and teenage literature

1991 Shortlist for the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize for children’s and teenage literatire

1991 German Children’s Literature Prize (for The Iron Lark)

1991 Peace Prize of Friedenstage Kirchheimbolanden

1995 Nomination for the Adolf Grimme Prize (book and director)

1998 Louise Zimmermann Prize for Emma Herwegh

1999 Wildweibchenpreis at the Reichelsheimer ‘Märchen- und Sagentage’

2003 Wilhelm Zimmermann Prize from the Wilhelm Zimmermann Memorial