Thomas Melle
Born 1975 in Bonn, living in Berlin. Melle studied comparative literature and philosophy in Tübingen, Austin (Texas) and Berlin. Thomas Melle writes plays as well as prose. In 2006 he took part in the Bachmann Competition in Klagenfurt. In 2008 he was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize and in 2009 the North Rhine-Westphalia Prize. Melles Roman Sickster was nominated for the German Book Prize 2011. His novel 3000 Euro, published in 2014, was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2014. In 2015, Thomas Melle received the Berlin Art Prize in the literature category. In 2016, Thomas Melle was nominated for the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis with Die Welt im Rücken. The production was also invited to the Autorentheatertage Berlin. His work Die Welt im Rücken, published in August 2016, was again shortlisted for the German Book Prize and was awarded the Klopstock Prize for New Literature (2017). A dramatization of the book had its world premiere in March 2017 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In November 2017 his play Versetzung premiered at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, which was also nominated for the Mühlheimer Theaterpreis (2018). In 2018, Thomas Melle received the honorary award of the German Schiller Foundation. In the 2019/20 season Melle will premiere the commissioned work Ode at the Kammerspiele of the Deutsche Theater Berlin.

Photo: Katja Strempel