Thor Kunkel
Quick Facts
Biography
Thor Kunkel, a German author, was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1963. Kunkel claims to have spent his youth associating with drug friends and American soldiers stationed in the then West Germany. In 1981, on a scholarship to the U.S., he enrolled in the creative writing programme of the San Francisco Art Institute.
Following his return to West Germany, Kunkel joined the staff of advertising agency Young & Rubicam, then in 1988 joined the Swiss GGK in London, England. After marrying Dutch artist Gerda Bakker, he moved to Amsterdam in 1992 and re-joined Young & Rubicam as creative director, quitting in 1996 to take up directing and writing. He now lives in Switzerland and the Netherlands. His first novel, The Blacklight-Terrarium (1999), won him a major German literary prize. His latest novel "Subs" will be put into film by director Oskar Roehler.