born in Bayreuth in 1962, studied German, philosophy, and musicology in Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main before beginning to write about literature and film for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. In 1999, he joined Berlin’s Tagesspiegel as literary editor, where he also regularly writes on topics related to jazz or the humanities. In 2009, he received the Alfred Kerr Prize for Literary Criticism. He is currently lead editor for nonfiction. In October, Matthes & Seitz will publish his literary essay Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen – Über Musik, Moment und Erinnerung.