Thomas Hürlimann was born in Zug, Switzerland, in 1950. He studied philosophy in Zurich and Berlin, then worked for two years at the Schiller-Theater in Berlin before returning to Switzerland permanently in 1985. His plays have been performed at theatres throughout Germany and Switzerland. His many distinguished awards have included the Aspekt Prize in 1981, the Konrad Adenauer Literature Prize in 1997, and the Solothurn Prize for Literature in 1998. His stories and novellas have been translated into Danish, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovenian and Spanish. Translations into English are given below. Der große Kater is his first full-length novel. Previous books include: Die Tessinerin, 1981; Das Gartenhaus, 1989 (The Couple, Fromm International 1991); Die Satellitenstadt, 1992; Das Holztheater, 1997. Translation rights available from Ammann Verlag & Co. Neptunstrasse 20 CH-8032 Zurich Tel: 0041 1 268 1040 Fax: 0041 1 268 1050 e-mail: ammann@access.ch Assistance with translation costs - Switzerland Ammann Verlag was founded in 1981 by Egon Ammann and Marie-Luise Flammersfeld. This publishing house specialises in contemporary and classical fiction by authors from Switzerland and throughout the world. It has issued collected editions of Fernando Pessoa, Ossip Mandelstam and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and its contemporary authors include the Nobel prize-winner Wole Soyinka, Ruth Schweikert, Hansjörg Schneider and Bernard MacLaverty.