Reinhard Jirgl (born 16 January 1953 in East-Berlin) is a German writer. Biography Jirgl was born in Berlin-Friedrichshain. He became a skilled worker for electromechanics. Then he completed a degree in electronics at Humboldt University, Berlin. He made first attempts at prose during his studies in the early 1970s. From 1975 he worked as an engineer at the Academy of Sciences. He gave up his profession in 1978 to devote more time to writing. He worked as a lighting and service technician at the Volksbühne in Berlin. After submitting his first novel Mutter Vater Roman to a Berlin publishing house in 1985, he was accused of a "non-Marxist conception of history". The publication of the novel was refused. Until 1989, none of his manuscripts were published. Since 2009 he has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. and he is member of the PEN Centre Germany. In 2010 he was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize by the German Academy for Language and Literature. His 2013 novel Nichts von euch auf Erden was shortlisted for the German Book Prize. At the beginning of 2017, Jirgl withdrew completely from the public. He lives in Berlin. Awards 1991: Anna Seghers-Preis 1993: Alfred-Döblin-Preis 1994: Marburg Literatur Prize 1998: 1999: Joseph-Breitbach-Preis 2003: Kranichsteiner Literaturpreis, 2003: Rheingau Literatur Preis 2004: Eugen Viehof-Ehrengabe der Deutschen Schillerstiftung von 1859, 2004: Dedalus-Preis für Neue Literatur 2006: Literaturpreis der Stadt Bremen 2007/08: Stadtschreiber von Bergen 2009: Lion-Feuchtwanger-Preis 2009: Grimmelshausen-Preis for Die Stille 2010: Georg-Büchner-Preis 2011: Sudetendeutscher Kulturpreis Scholarships 1994: Scholarship in Künstlerdorf Schöppingen 1995: Scholarship of the Berliner Kultursenat 1996: Alfred-Döblin-Stipendium 1997: Scholarship in Künstlerhof Schreyahn 1998: Scholarship of the Heinrich-Heine-Haus Lüneburg 2002: Scholarship of the Deutscher Literaturfond 2007: Scholarship in Künstlerhaus Edenkoben Works Mutter Vater Roman. Aufbau, Berlin/Weimar 1990. . Uberich. Protokollkomödie in den Tod. Jassmann, Frankfurt am Main 1990, . Im offenen Meer. [Schichtungsroman]. Luchterhand, Hamburg/Zürich 1991, . together with Andrzej Madela: Zeichenwende. Kultur im Schatten posttotalitärer Mentalität. Bublies, Koblenz 1993, . Das obszöne Gebet. Totenbuch. Jassmann, Frankfurt am Main 1993, . Abschied von den Feinden. novel. Hanser, Munich/Vienna 1995, . Hundsnächte. novel. Hanser, Munich/Vienna 1997, . Die atlantische Mauer. novel. Hanser, Munich/Vienna 2000, . Genealogie des Tötens. Trilogie. Hanser, Munich 2002, . Gewitterlicht. stories, with the Essay Das poetische Vermögen des alphanumerischen Codes in der Prosa. In: Edition Einst und Jetzt Band 3. revonnah, Hannover 2002, . Die Unvollendeten. novel. Hanser, Munich/Vienna 2003,