Burkhard Spinnen


Burkhard Spinnen is a German author.

Education and early life

Spinnen grew up in Mönchengladbach as the only child of Willy and Cornelia Spinnen. After completing his secondary education and his military service in 1976, he studied Mass communication, Sociology and German Studies at the University of Münster, completing his master's degree in 1984 and then his doctorate in the Faculty of Philosophy in 1989.
Following his studies, he worked at the Institute for German Studies as an Assistant until 1995 after which, from 1996 onward, he decided to become a freelance writer.

Career as a writer

Burkhard Spinnen is a member of PEN Centre Germany. From 1997 to 2000 he was guest professor at the Deutsches Literaturinstitut in Leipzig. From 2000 to 2006 he was a member of the Jury of the Klagenfurt-based Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize, and from 2008 to 2014 the Jury Chairman. Since 2011 he has been a member of the prestigious North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.
As well as writing novels, short stories, essays and criticism, Spinnen writes reviews and opinion pieces for the newspapers and radio. Spinnen has received numerous awards for his work.

Family life

Spinnen has lived in Münster since 1996 as a freelance writer. He is married with two sons. In 2016 he published a frank account of his mother’s gradual decline into dementia.

Awards