Kirchhoff, Bodo

The German novelist and playwright Bodo Kirchhoff was born in Hamburg and grew up in South Germany. His mother was an actress and author, his father built up his own business after the war. His parents divorced and Kirchhoff finished his education at a boarding school in Gaienhofen. He was already convinced that he wanted to become a writer despite not passing his German examination. He read pedagogy, psychology, philosophy and sociology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and presented his dissertation on the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in 1978. Lacan's theories as well as the author's travels to far away places inform his work. Kirchhoff has for many years run creative writing workshops together with his wife.