Elke Schmitter studied philosophy in Munich and was editor-in-chief of the Berlin newspaper taz from 1992 to 1994. Since then she has been working as a freelance journalist and writing for Die Zeit, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Since 2001 she has also been on the editorial staff of Der Spiegel. In 1981 she published her first volume of poetry, White Shades in the Subjunctive, and in 1998 published a collection of essays about Heinrich Heine. Previous works available in translation, both with Berlin Verlag: Frau Sartoris (Mrs Sartoris) (2000) – also published in UK, USA, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Netherlands, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Croatia, Turkey, Taiwan, Korea; Leichte Verfehlungen (Slight Misdemeanours) (2002) – also published in Italy, France, Netherlands. Translation rights available from Berlin Verlag Greifswalder Str. 207 10405 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 4438450 Email: s.oswald@berlinverlag.de Contact: Sabine Oswald Applications for assistance with translation costs - Germany Berlin Verlag was founded in 1995 as an independent publishing house and publishes literary fiction and quality non-fiction for a wide audience and a select range of international authors. Berlin Verlag is also known for its work in developing promising, young German writers, such as the acclaimed Ingo Schulze, Elke Schmitter, Irina Liebmann, Marcus Braun and Gila Lustiger as well as the plays of Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Prizewinner in 2004. Since 2003, Berlin Verlag has belonged to the Bloomsbury Publishing group.