Zoë Beck


Zoë Beck is a German writer, publisher, translator, dialogue book author and dubbing director. She has won multiple awards for her books and translations.

Life

At the age of three she began to play the piano. Numerous performances and multiple awards at competitions followed. After graduating from high school she studied German and English literature in Giessen, Bonn and Durham as a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation. She completed her studies with a master's thesis on the crime writer Elizabeth George. She then worked as an editor and TV producer for the Kirch Group. Since 2004 she has been working as a freelance author and lives in Berlin.
Beck first wrote screenplays, including the Christmas film "In der Weihnachtsbäckerei" with Rolf Zuckowski for ZDF children's television, various episodes of Tabaluga tivi, Nelly Net and the German version of the sitcom Disney's Kurze Pause for the Disney Channel. Since 2006 she has been publishing mainly prose as a writer.
After surviving cancer in 2007 she changed her name to Zoë Beck.
Together with Jan Karsten Beck, she founded the literary publishing house CulturBooks in 2013. The publishing house emerged from the online feuilleton Culturmag.
In addition to her writing, Zoë Beck works as a literary translator and dubbing director for film and television. From September 2013 to August 2014, she was the columnist for the SWR2 programme LiteraturEN, a radio column that is awarded to a different contemporary author each year, and subsequently wrote literary reviews for the station.
Zoë Beck acts as their German voice on reading tours of international authors, for example for Denise Mina, Val McDermid, Louise Welsh and Carl Nixon. She is on the board of directors of LitProm, a member of the PEN Centre Germany, co-founder of the feminist writers' network "Herland" and co-initiator of the action alliance #verlagegegenrechts. At the Leipzig Book Fair 2018 and 2019, she organised, among other things, the event series "Die Gedanken sind bunt". Beck has been a member of the jury for the Kurt Tucholsky Prize since 2018.

Awards

  • 2010 Friedrich-Glauser-Preis
  • 2011 Friedrich-Glauser-Preis, Nomination
  • 2012 September, KrimiZEIT-Bestenliste
  • 2013 Goldene Leslie, Nomination
  • 2014 January, February, March, KrimiZEIT-Bestenliste
  • 2014 Radio-Bremen-Krimipreis
  • 2014 Virenschleuder-Preis, Marketingpreis der Frankfurter Buchmesse, Kategorie „Persönlichkeit“
  • 2014 25 Frauen für die digitale Zukunft
  • 2015 March, April, May, June KrimiZEIT-Bestenliste
  • 2015 Buchkultur: Die besten Krimis der Saison Top 10
  • 2016 Deutscher Krimi Preis, Category „National“, 3. Platz
  • 2017 July, August Krimibestenliste der FAS/Deutschlandfunk Kultur
  • 2017 Internationaler Literaturpreis des Haus der Kulturen der Welt und der Stiftung Elementarteilchen, Nomination
  • 2018 Goldene Auguste, Award for her services to women's crime literature
  • 2018 Wiesbadener Krimistipendium 2019
  • 2019 Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for Best Translation to Science Fiction for Pippa Goldschmidt, "Von der Notwendigkeit, den Weltraum zu ordnen", nomination
  • 2020 July, August, September Krimibestenliste of the FAS/Deutschlandfunk Kultur
  • 2020 Krimifuchs of the City of Berlin
  • 2020 German Crime Fiction Prize, "National" category, 1st place for Paradise City
  • 2021 Friedrich-Glauser-Preis, category novel, nomination for Paradise City
  • 2021 Political Crime Prize of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Baden-Württemberg 2021 for Paradise City
  • 2021 Kurd-Laßwitz Prize for Best German-language science fiction novel, nomination
  • 2021 Town Clerk in Tampere, Finland

    Work

Novels (Name: Zoë Beck)

  • Wenn es dämmert, Kriminalroman, Lübbe, 2008,
  • Das alte Kind, Kriminalroman, Lübbe, 2010,
  • Der frühe Tod, Kriminalroman, Bastei Lübbe, 2011,
  • Edvard, Jugendroman, Baumhaus, 2012,
  • Das zerbrochene Fenster, Kriminalroman, Bastei Lübbe, August 2012,
  • Brixton Hill, Thriller, Heyne, Dezember 2013,
  • Schwarzblende, Thriller, Heyne, März 2015,
  • Die Lieferantin, Thriller, Suhrkamp, Juni 2017,
  • Paradise City, Thriller, Suhrkamp, Juni 2020,

    Short Prose (Name: Zoë Beck)

  • Das Haus im Lieper Winkel, 2009,
  • Draußen., Kölnisch-Preußische Lektoratsanstalt, 2009,
  • Rapunzel, Kölnisch-Preußische Lektoratsanstalt, 2010,
  • Ein zufriedener Mann, Kölnisch-Preußische Lektoratsanstalt, 2011,
  • Dorianna, Knaur, 2011,
  • Welthauptstadt der Agoraphobiker, Lübbe, 2011,
  • Weihnachtsdrücken, rororo, 2011,
  • Kerzenschein, Heyne, 2012,
  • Stilles Wasser, KBV, 2013,
  • Freundin., Kerber, 2013,
  • Die Stimme, Heyne, 2013,
  • Berliner Leber, dtv, 2013,
  • Rot wie Schnee, Droemer, 2013,
  • Ein zufriedener Mann. Erzählungen, CulturBooks, July 2014,
  • Remember, remember, Knaur eBook, November 2014,
  • Pfau 117, Arche, May 2016,
  • Fake It Or It Didn't Happen, Verlag Walther König, September 2018,

    Non-fiction books

  • Depression. 100 Seiten, Reclam, May 2021,

    Novels (Name: Henrike Heiland)

  • Späte Rache, Kriminalroman, Bastei Lübbe, 2006,
  • Zum Töten nah, Kriminalroman, Bastei Lübbe, 2007,
  • Blutsünde, Kriminalroman, Bastei Lübbe, 2007,
  • Von wegen Traummann!, Roman, Heyne, 2010,
  • Für immer und ledig?, Roman, Heyne, 2011,

    Prose (Name: Henrike Heiland)

  • Der unglückliche Herr Dr. von und zu Wittenstein, Poetenladen, 2008,
  • Leaving Lüdenscheid, oder: Opa muss weg, Grafit, 2008,
  • Diese Sache in Rostock, KBV, 2009,
  • Konkurrenzausschluss, Kölnisch-Preußische Lektoratsanstalt, 2009,
  • Bullets Over Bochum, 2009,
  • Hell-go-land, Pendragon, 2010,
  • Starnberger Strafvollzug, Gmeiner, 2010,
  • Exile on Genfbachstraße, KBV, 2010,
  • Die Dreizehn, Kölnisch-Preußische Lektoratsanstalt, 2010,
  • Zum Kuckuck!, Bastei Lübbe, 2011,
  • Gmundner Alibi, Gmeiner, 2011,
  • Onkel Horst vom Schillerplatz, KBV, 2011,

    Translations (selected)

  • Steve Caplin and Simon Rose: Best of Papa: Geniale Ideen, die Vätern und Kindern Spaß machen. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2008,.
  • Pippa Goldschmidt: Der südlichste Punkt. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2013,.
  • Pippa Goldschmidt: Von der Notwendigkeit, den Weltraum zu ordnen. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2014, digital edition.
  • Pippa Goldschmidt: Weiter als der Himmel. Weidle Verlag, Bonn 2015,.
  • James Grady: Die letzten Tage des Condor. Suhrkamp, Berlin 2016,.
  • Amanda Lee Koe: Ministerium für öffentliche Erregung. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2016,.
  • Karan Mahajan: In Gesellschaft kleiner Bomben. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2017,.
  • Gerald Seymour: Vagabond. Suhrkamp, Berlin 2017,.
  • Pippa Goldschmidt: Von der Notwendigkeit, den Weltraum zu ordnen. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2018, expanded and revised new edition, print..
  • Denise Mina: Blut, Salz, Wasser. Argument Ariadne, Hamburg 2018,.
  • Helen Oyeyemi: Was du nicht hast, das brauchst du nicht. CulturBooks, Hamburg 2018,.
  • Lesley Nneka Arimah: Was es bedeutet, wenn ein Mann aus dem Himmel fällt. Culturbooks, Hamburg 2019,.
  • Sally Rooney: Gespräche mit Freunden. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Munich 2019,.
  • Denise Mina: Klare Sache. Argument Ariadne, Hamburg 2019..
  • Sally Rooney: Normale Menschen. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Munich 2020,.
  • Camilla Grudova: Das Alphabet der Puppen. Culturbooks, Hamburg 2020,.
  • Ling Ma: New York Ghost. Culturbooks, Hamburg 2021,.
  • Sally Rooney: Schöne Welt, wo bist du. Ullstein, Berlin 2021,.