Wolfgang Jeschke

Wolfgang Jeschke (19 November 1936 – 10 June 2015) was a German sci-fi author and editor at Heyne Verlag. In 1987, he won the Harrison Award for international achievements in science fiction.

Jeschke was born in 1936 in Děčín (then in Czechoslovakia, now in the Czech Republic). After the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II, he grew up in Asperg near Ludwigsburg. After graduating from high school, he trained as a toolmaker and worked in mechanical engineering. In 1959, he went back to complete the abitur and studied German, English literature, and philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He completed a publishing internship at Verlag C.H. Beck. In 1969, he was hired as editorial assistant for Kindlers Literaturlexikon, and later became an editor.

In 1970, author Herbert W. Franke offered Kindler a science fiction novel; the publisher remembered Jeschke's interest in science fiction and asked him for his opinion. The result was Science Fiction für Kenner (Science Fiction for Connoisseurs) under the imprint Lichtenberg Verlag, which included not only Franke's novel, Zone Null, but also Jeschke's own short-story collection, Der Zeiter (The Bridegroom).

This imprint published a number of important authors in German for the first time, including Robert Silverberg, Thomas M. Disch, and Brian W. Aldiss. In late 1972, Jeschke became science fiction consultant and editor at Heyne Verlag. After Franke's departure in 1979, Jeschke was the sole science fiction editor at Heyne, where he remained until his retirement in 2002. He continued to live in Munich, where he continued to work on the Science Fiction Jahrbuch (Science Fiction Yearbook), with Sascha Mamczak.

Jeschke was one of the first members of the Science Fiction Club Deutschland (SFCD), founded in 1955. His first short stories appeared in fanzines and semi-professional publications, and together with Peter Noga, he published his own fanzine, Ad Astra. He wrote little during his years as consultant and editor, and his body of work remains relatively small. His science fiction is known for its themes of time travel and paradox. His first novel, Der letzte Tag der Schöpfung (The Last Day of Creation), was widely translated. He also wrote radio plays.