Available Formats
Coffee and Cigarettes: Scenes from a Writer's Life
By (Author) Ferdinand von Schirach
Translated by Kat Hall
John Murray Press
Baskerville
8th August 2023
11th May 2023
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Fiction in translation
Short stories
Literary essays
Hardback
224
Width 142mm, Height 218mm, Spine 26mm
340g
'One of the most distinctive voices in European literature' (Daily Telegraph)
How does the legacy of a family past shape who we areFerdinand von Schirach is one of Germany's most eminent criminal defence lawyers and an internationally bestselling crime writer. He is also the grandson of Baldur von Schirach, leader of the Hitler Youth movement.In Coffee and Cigarettes, his most personal book, von Schirach confronts his family history, through autobiographical vignettes and short stories drawn from his life and career. From conversations with imprisoned clients, great writers and supreme court judges; meditations on art, film, writing and smoking; to reflections on Germany's heavy history, Coffee and Cigarettes is a portrait of the author, and our modern world, depicted in von Schirach's signature cool and incisive prose. Revealing, revelatory and thought-provoking, these essays confirm von Schirach as one of the most inimitable writers in Europe today.Ferdinand von Schirach was born in Munich in 1964, and has worked as a defence lawyer for twenty years. He published his first book at the age of 45 and has since published various short stories, novels, essays and plays. Ferdinand von Schirach's books have been translated into more than 40 languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide. He lives in Berlin.