Hans FalladaHans Fallada was born Rudolf Wilhelm Adolf Ditzen in 1893 in Greifswald, northeastern Germany, and took his pen name from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. He spent much of his life in prison or in psychiatric care, yet produced some of the most sinificant German novels of the twentieth century, including Once a Jailbird; Little Man, What Now?; and Every Man Dies Alone, which was only published in English for the first time in 2009, to near-universal acclaim. He died in Berlin in 1947.

Michael Hofmann is a German-born poet and translator. He has translated such authors as Hans Fallada, Franz Kafka, Patrick Süskind, and many others, and has won numerous awards for his work. He lives in London, England. Read More Read Less