Patrick Süskind

b. 1949

3 standalone books

Patrick Süskind is a German writer and screenwriter, best known for his internationally acclaimed novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, first published in 1985. He was born in Ambach am Starnberger See, near Munich, to Wilhelm Emanuel Süskind, a writer and journalist who worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and co-authored Aus dem Wörterbuch des Unmenschen. Süskind attended school in Holzhausen, a Bavarian village. He studied Medieval and Modern History at the University of Munich and in Aix-en-Provence from 1968 to 1974 but did not graduate. He later moved to Paris, where he wrote short fiction and screenplays. His play Der Kontrabaß (The Double Bass), initially conceived as a radio play, achieved success in 1981, with over 500 performances in the 1984–85 season. He also wrote screenplays for television productions such as Monaco Franze (1983) and Kir Royal (1987). For his screenplay of Rossini, he won the Screenplay Prize of the German Department for Culture in 1996 but rejected other awards. Perfume was adapted into a film in 2006 and remained on the Der Spiegel bestseller list for nine years. Süskind lives in seclusion in Munich, Seeheim, and France, avoiding public attention and refusing interviews and photographs.

Born

1949