Maxim Biller was born in Prague to Russian-Jewish parents and emigrated to West Germany with his parents and sister in 1970. He studied literature in Hamburg and Munich. After studying at the German School of Journalism in Munich, he began writing for Tempo, Spiegel and Zeit. His extreme column 100 Zeilen Hass in Tempo magazine achieved fame. His first collection of stories Wenn ich einmal reich und tot bin was published in 1990, and since then Maxim Biller has published a total of sixteen books, including the novels Die Tochter and Esra. The latter was banned by the courts in 2003. His works have been translated into Danish, English, French, Greek, Dutch, Korean, and Czech.