Though she once stated in an interview for the prestigious Jury Prize in the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition that she never thought she could be a serious writer, for Jenny Erpenbeck writing was a family tradition. Born in 1967 in East Berlin, Erpenbeck grew up in the literary scene, among a family of published writers in the GDR. Additionally, her mother, Doris Kilias, worked as a translator. Thus, it should be no surprise that Erpenbeck began her career in publishing as a bookbinder. Soon, however, Erpenbeck went into theater and worked in props and costumes at the Berlin State Opera. In 1988 she began to study drama at Humboldt University, and from 1990 to 1994 she studied concert hall direction at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. …
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Citation: Boney, Kristy. "Jenny Erpenbeck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 February 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13313, accessed 16 April 2024.]
