ABOUT MARTIN WALSER
Twentieth-century German author who won the 1998 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. He wrote such novels as Breakers and No Man's Land.
He received his doctorate in literature in 1951 and went on to produce radio plays.
He was the subject of controversy in 2007 when it was revealed that he had once been a member of the Nazi party.
His parents were coal merchants who also owned an inn adjacent to a train station. He married Katharina Neuner-Jehle in 1950.
He and Pope Benedict were both included on Cicero's list of the 500 Most Important German Intellectuals.
