Ulrike Edschmid was born in Berlin in 1940, and grew up in the Rhön/Hessen area in an old castle. She studied Literature and Education in Frankfurt and at the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin. She worked for a short time as a teacher. She lives in Berlin.
Her essayistic and novelistic works, including Das Verschwinden des Philip S., are often (auto)biographical and explore themes of recent German history. On its appearance in 2013, Das Verschwinden des Philip S. was awarded the Johann- Jacob- Christoph von Grimmelshausen-Preis, and the Preis der SWR-Bestenliste as well as the Johann Friedrich von Cotta- Literatur-und Übersetzerpreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart 2014.