Daniel Kehlmann | |
|---|---|
 Kehlmann in 2023 | |
| Born | (1975-01-13)13 January 1975 (age 50) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | German, Austrian |
| Notable works |
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Daniel Kehlmann (German:[ˈdaːni̯eːlˈkeːlman,-ni̯ɛl-]ⓘ; born 13 January 1975) is a German-language novelist and playwright of both Austrian and German nationality.[1]
His novelDie Vermessung der Welt (translated into English byCarol Brown Janeway asMeasuring the World, 2006) is the best selling book in the German language sincePatrick Süskind'sPerfume was released in 1985. In an ironic way, it deals withAlexander von Humboldt, one of the world's best-known naturalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, and Humboldt's relationship with the mathematicianCarl Friedrich Gauss.[2] According toThe New York Times, it was the world's second-best selling novel in 2006.[3]
All his subsequent novels reached the number one spot on Germany'sSpiegel bestseller list and were translated into English. He collaborated withJonathan Franzen and Paul Reitter on Franzen's 2013 bookThe Kraus Project. Kehlmann's playThe Mentor, translated byChristopher Hampton, opened atTheatre Royal, Bath, in April 2017 starringF. Murray Abraham and transferred to the LondonWest End in July 2017.[4] In October 2017, his playChristmas Eve, also translated by Christopher Hampton, premiered at the Theatre Royal.[5] His novellaYou Should Have Left (2016) was adapted into a movie starringKevin Bacon andAmanda Seyfried.[6] Kehlmann's highly praised novelTyll (2017), which sold more than 600,000 copies in German alone[7] and was published in the US in February 2020,[8] is currently being adapted into a TV series forNetflix by the makers ofDark.[9] The novel was shortlisted for the2020 International Booker Prize. Kehlmann's playDie Reise der Verlorenen was adapted for BBC radio byTom Stoppard under the titleThe Voyage of the St. Louis.
Kehlmann was born in Munich, the son of the television directorMichael Kehlmann and the actress Dagmar Mettler.[10] His family moved to his father's hometown Vienna when Daniel was six years old. His paternal grandparents were born Jewish, and his father was in a concentration camp during WWII.[11] Kehlmann currently lives in Berlin.[12]
Since 2015, Kehlmann has held the Eberhard Berent Chair atNew York University. He is a member of theDeutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.
From 2016–2017 he was a fellow at theNew York Public Library's Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars.[13]
The novelTyll was shortlisted for theInternational Booker Prize.
Kehlmann also works as a screenwriter and wrote the script for the TV filmDas letzte Problem. He adaptedThomas Mann's novelConfessions of Felix Krull Confidence Man for an upcoming movie.
He is married and has a son.[14]
