I am a member of P.E.N and write essays in the field of literary criticism as well as biographies. In addition I paint.
Till 2009 I have been in the Foreign Service. My last post was Ambassador in the Slovak Republic.
My biography of the Italian novelist Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, “Life and work of the last Gattopardo”has been published by NORA-editors Berlin in March 2012. It’s the first biography of Lampedusa in German. In addition the first biography which takes into account the complete correspondence not yet published as well as the many documents in Lettonian archives.
Previously I have written a series of essays on writers (novelists, dramatists and poets) of the 20 th century, who were diplomats. The latest essays are on the Brazilian writer Guimaraes Rosa and the Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz.
In 2013 the „Essays zur Literatur” have been published, followed in 2014 by „Essays zur Literatur II” and in 2015 by „Essays zur Literatur III”. The essays deal with various aspects of literature in Eastern Europe, in Latin America, in Germany and in Iran. Subsequently in 2016 appeared a comprehensive book on writers in Rome: „Verliebt oder verloren in Rom. Schriftsteller, von Dante Alighieri bis Navid Kermani, erleben die Ewige Stadt“.
At present together with a colleague I am working on a literary companion through Sicily, a description of Sicily at the times of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and on a novel, which is located in France under German occupation. (for details click on „Books”).