Kathrin Aehnlich, engineer turned successful author, began her writing career in 1985 at the Deutsches Literatur Institut in Leipzig. Read More Her creative final paper, “When I am grown up—I will fly to the stars,” a story about everyday life in East Germany from the point of view of a child (Gustav-Kiepenheuer–Verlag), was the first of numerous works that would deal with life in the DDR and with its eventual dissolution.
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Aehnlich began contributing to the well known independent weekly paper, Die andere Zeitung (DAZ). After DAZ's collapse in 1991, Aehnlich continued her journalistic career by becoming a freelance editor for MDR Figaro at Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk the following year. It was during this same period that she began to write and direct films, including the music documentaries "Blauhemd-Bluejeans-Beat Musik" and "Soundtrack Ost," chronicling music culture in the DDR.

Aehnlich's first full-length novel, Alle sterben, auch die Löffelstöre, published in 2007 by Arche Literatur Verlag Zürich-Hamburg, became a bestseller in Germany. She is currently working on her second novel.

She is currently a writer in residence at Ledig-House.