Tilman Spengler was born in 1947. He studied Oriental history and sociology in Germany, China and Japan, with particular interest in Chinese studies, which he continued at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has spent extended periods in China during the course of his academic work. As a journalist, he contributes regularly to Die Zeit and Geo, and is co-publisher of the magazine Kursbuch. He has also directed films in New York about the artists Carrington and Winterhalter. Previous publications include: Lenins Hirn, 1991 (Lenin's Brain, Tr. Shaun Whiteside, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993); Geistermauern, 1992; Der Maler von Peking, 1994; Wenn Männer sich verheben, 1996 (Spinal Discord, Tr. Philip Boehm, Metropolitan Books, 1997). Altogether his novels have been translated into fifteen other languages. Translation rights available from Rowohlt Verlag GmbH Hamburger Str. 7 D-21465 Reinbek Tel: 0049 40 7272 0 Fax: 0049 40 7272 319 Applications for assistance with translation costs - Germany Rowohlt Verlag was founded by Ernst Rowohlt in 1908. This house with its various divisions - Rowohlt Verlag, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Wunderlich Verlag and Rowohlt Berlin - is now part of the Holtzbrinck group. Rowohlt publishes both literary and popular fiction, non-fiction and children's books. Authors include Wolfgang Borchert, Friedrich Christian Delius, Rolf Hochhuth, Elfriede Jelinek, Imre Kértesz, Helmut Krausser, Klaus and Erika Mann, Robert Musil, Péter Nádas, Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, Peter Schneider and Kurt Tucholsky.