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Photo of Bernhard Schlink, Gaby Gerster / © Diogenes Verlag
Bernhard Schlink

Bernhard Schlink, born in 1944, was a Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy and a former judge at the Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia. His first novel, Self's Justice, was published in 1987; his 1995 novel The Reader, translated into more than fifty languages and adapted by Stephen Daldry into a film starring Kate Winslet, established his worldwide renown. He has been awarded with national and international prizes like the German ›Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) 1st Class‹, the French ›Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur‹ and the Italian ›Grinzane Cavour Prize‹. His latest novel is The Late Life.

Photo: Gaby Gerster / © Diogenes Verlag
Bio-Bibliographie

Books

Selbs Justiz
Bernhard Schlink & Walter Popp
Self's Punishment
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Selbs Justiz
Bernhard Schlink & Walter Popp
Self's Punishment
Show more

Events

Reading 10.11.2026

Marburg

Bernhard Schlink liest in Marburg
To the event
Reading 10.11.2026

Marburg

Bernhard Schlink liest in Marburg
To the event

Quotes

ZeitPunkt, Leipzig

»Schlink knows the depths of the human soul all too well. The writer and judge proves with each of his books that he knows how to transform German history into literature.«

Andrew Nagorski
Newsweek, London

»Schlink has won his huge popular following by bringing to bear a penetrating intelligence about the psyche of his characters and an empathy for their dilemmas. Professor Schlink may be an expert on the letter of the law, but writer Schlink is an intrepid explorer of the much trickier terrain of the human heart.«

Helmut Atteneder
Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, Linz

»The German novelist Bernhard Schlink is pretty much second to none when it comes to storytelling.«

Volker Hage
Der Spiegel, Hamburg

»One of the most successful and versatile German writers of our time.«

New York Times Book Review

»[Schlink] writes instructive tales that adeptly raise difficult questions and propose appealing answers.«

Welt am Sonntag, Hamburg

»The truly masterly aspect of Schlink's prose is its intelligence – an intelligence that is firmly rooted in common sense.«

News

Bernhard Schlink's The Granddaughter #3 on the Spiegel bestseller list, praised by the press
Bernhard Schlink's The Granddaughter has shot to #3 on the Spiegel bestseller list. We have just sold Czech rights to...
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Colours of Farewell by Bernhard Schlink to be available in 18 languages
Bernhard Schlink's Colours of Farewell has been on the Spiegel bestseller list for 23 weeks now, 15 of which in the top 20....
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Bernhard Schlink’s Olga to be published by HarperVia
We have sold US rights of Bernhard Schlink’s Olga to HarperVia, who are going to publish the book by autumn 2021. There's...
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#1 of the Spiegel bestseller list: Colours of Farewell by Bernhard Schlink
It's rare for a book of stories on the German-speaking market, but it happens in few select cases: Bernhard Schlink's Colours...
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Movie adaptations

2011
Das Wochenende, Nina Grosse
2009
The Reader, Stephen Daldry
2008
The Other Man, Richard Eyre
1991
Der Tod kam als Freund, Nico Hoffmann

Awards

2024

Spanische Übersetzung von Die Enkelin mit dem ›Premio de las Librerias de Navarra‹ ausgezeichnet

2014

›Pak Kyong-ni Prize‹ der südkoreanischen Kulturstiftung Toji für sein schriftstellerisches Schaffen

2003

›Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse‹ für Der Vorleser

2002

›Preis des German-British Forum‹ für sein Gesamtwerk

2001

Finnischer Literaturpreis ›Eeva Joenpelto-Preis‹ der Gemeinde Lohja

2001

Ernennung zum ›Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur‹

2000

›Ehrengabe‹ der Heinrich-Heine-Gesellschaft in Düsseldorf

2000

›Sonderkulturpreis‹ der japanischen Tageszeitung Mainichi Shinbun, der jedes Jahr an einen japanischen Buchbestseller vergeben wird, für Der Vorleser

2000

›Evangelischer Buchpreis‹ des Deutschen Verbandes Evangelischer Büchereien für Der Vorleser

1999

Erstmals verliehener ›WELT-Literaturpreis‹ für sein literarisches Schaffen

1997

›Grinzane-Cavour-Preis‹ (Italien) für Der Vorleser

1997

›Prix Laure Bataillon‹ (Frankreich) für Der Vorleser (Auszeichnung für den Autor sowie für den Übersetzer Bernard Lortholary)

1997

›Hans-Fallada-Preis‹ der Stadt Neumünster für Der Vorleser

1993

›Deutscher Krimi-Preis‹ des Bochumer Krimi Archivs für Selbs Betrug

1989

Autorenpreis deutschsprachige Kriminalliteratur ›Der Glauser‹ für Die gordische Schleife