Born in 1965 in Tailfingen/Württemberg. Studied German, English and general literature in Siegen. Lives and works as a writer in Dresden. Became known for his novels "Das Menschenfleisch" (1991), "Flughunde" (1995), "Spione" (2000) and Kaltenburg (2008) as well as his volumes of poetry, including "Falsches Futter" (1997), "Erdkunde" (2002), Graphit (2014). Also works on the tradition of experimental literature (e.g. selection of works by the expressionist Rudolf Blümner, 1993), translation of the poetry collection "Feineinstellungen" by Michael Hofmann and journalistic contributions on literature and music (e.g. Spex, Riddim), editor of the Collected Poems of Friederike Mayröcker (2004), co-editor with Christian Döring of the Collected Poems of Thomas Kling (2006). Guest lectureships, speaker tours and writer in residence (e.g. London, New York, Kobe).
He has been awarded several prizes, including the Johannes Bobrowski Medal for the Berlin Literature Prize (1996), the Uwe Johnson Prize (1997), the Heinrich Böll Prize (2001), the Erich Fried Prize (2006), the Joseph Breitenbach Prize (2008) and the Georg Büchner Prize (2016).
