Gabriele Goettle was born in 1946 in Aschaffenburg, and grew up in Karlsruhe. In Berlin she studied sculpture, literary studies and History of Art. She co-published the anarchic Berlin newspaper Die schwarze Botin [„The Black Messenger“]; then, in the Eighties, she started writing reports on everyday life in the Federal Republic of Germany, mostly for the taz and Die Zeit. She now lives and works as a journalist in Berlin.

Awards:

• 1996 Ben-Witter-Preis
• 1999 Schubart-Literaturpreis of the City of Aalen