Katja Oskamp

Katja Oskamp is a German author, screenwriter, and chiropodist (foot care specialist) whose late-blooming literary career has brought her international recognition. Born in Leipzig, East Germany in 1970, she studied German literature at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Marzahn, Mon Amour (2019, translated into English by Jo Heinrich in 2022) won the Dublin Literary Award in 2023. The book—a collection of linked essays and vignettes—draws on Oskamp's work as a chiropodist in the Marzahn district of Berlin, one of the largest East German housing estates, describing her encounters with elderly patients and reflecting on time, bodies, and belonging in post-reunification Germany. Oskamp had previously published several novels and screenplays, but Marzahn, Mon Amour was her international breakthrough. The book's quiet, precise observational writing drew wide praise and was compared to Annie Ernaux and W.G. Sebald. She divides her time between Berlin and the island of Rügen. She is considered one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary German nonfiction, notable for her attention to overlooked lives and places.