Barbara Honigmann was born in East Berlin in 1949, to parents of Jewish origin with a colourful exile background. She initially worked as a dramatist and theatre director before developing a career as both an award-winning writer and an artist. In 1984 she emigrated with her family to Strasbourg, where she still lives and continues to publish in German. In a uniquely engaging style, she writes mainly about her exploration of her fractured family history and search for her Jewish identity, first against the uneasy background of life in the GDR and later in her self-imposed exile.