Birgit Müller-Wieland was born in 1962 in Schwanenstadt in Upper Austria and studied in Salzburg, writing a thesis on Peter Weiss. She works for the radio, writes audioplays for children and opera libretti, as well as publishing poetry and prose. Das neapolitanische Bett is her first novel. The author now lives in Berlin. Previous works include: Ruhig Blut. Gedichte, 2002 (Poems), and Die Farbensucherin. Erzählungen, 1997 (Short Stories), both at Verlag Haymon, Innsbruck. Translation rights available from: Verlag Klaus Wagenbach Emserstrasse 40/41 10719 Berlin Tel: +49 30 23 51 51 0 Emaili: mail@wagenbach.de Contact: Petra Biesenkamp Applications for assistance with translation costs - Germany/Austria Verlag Klaus Wagenbach is an independent publishing house and was founded in 1964 in Berlin. Its programme comprises contemporary and twentieth century literature, (cultural) history, the history of art, and politics. It has a special focus on Italian literature, as well as publishing original German-language works and translations from the French, Spanish and English. Among its authors are: A.L. Kennedy, Erich Fried, Andrea Camillieri, Natalia Ginzburg, Manuel Vázquez Montalban, Michel Houellebecq, Peter Burke, Natlie Zemon Davies and Stephen Greenblatt.