Poet and novelist Kathrin Schmidt was born in 1958 in Gotha in the former German Democratic Republic and lives in Berlin. She trained as a psychologist and later worked as an editor and a social scientist before writing full time. Her first poetry pamphlet was published in the famous 'Poesiealbum' series by the GDR publisher, Verlag Neues Leben, of which Christa Wolf had in earlier years been editor-in-chief. Two further collections were published in the GDR. In the process of Germany's reunification Schmidt represented the anti-reunification United Left, the most left-wing of several newly-formed groups in the GDR, at Berlin city's round-table discussions. Schmidt's to-date eight poetry volumes and five novels have garnered a host of residencies and awards, notably the Leonce-und-Lena Poetry Prize in 1993, and in 2009 she was awarded both the annual prize of the reputed Südwestfunk Radio Best List and the German Book Prize for You're not dying (Du Stirbst Nicht), beating a shortlist that included Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller. The novel has since been translated into thirteen languages. This is Christina Les's first venture into novel translation. Having studied French and German at Yarm School and as an undergraduate at Nottingham University, she then specialised in translation, pursuing a Masters degree followed by a Doctorate.