Author, journalist, and film director Thomas von Steinaecker was born in Traunstein, Germany, in 1977. His highly acclaimed novels include Wallner beginnt zu Fliegen (2007) and Die Verteidigung des Paradieses (2016), both of which were nominated for the German Book Prize.

The Summer of Her Life was created for Hundertvierzehn, the lit-blog of S. Fischer Verlag, and marks the first collaboration between Thomas von Steinaecker and comics artist Barbara Yelin. A reworked version of the story was published in book form by Reprodukt in the fall of 2017.