Lutz Volke was born on 15 February, 1940 in Magdeburg and now lives in Berlin. He studied German and Nordic literature at the University of Greifswald and after completing his studies he worked as a literature editor with the radio broadcaster Berliner Rundfunk. In 1972 he joined the broadcaster Rundfunk der DDR, where he worked as a radio-play dramaturg. He subsequently completed his doctorate at the University of Rostock in 1983 and, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, he worked for Sender Freies Berlin (later: Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) from 1992 until 2005. He has contributed work to literary-history publications, newspapers, journals and radio and also worked as a reviewer and editor for belletristic publishers. Since 1976 he has also translated a number of Nordic-language works into German, work that won him the translation prize awarded by the Berlin publisher Volk & Welt. He is known particularly for his translations of Klaus Rifbjerg’s novels, stories, poetry and radio plays.