Helga Königsdorf was born in 1938. A citizen of the former East Germany, Königsdorf was a professor of physics and mathematics before Parkinson's disease curtailed her scientific career. She is the author of several books on mathematics as well as collections of short stories, novellas, and essays.
Susan H. Gillespie is the director of the Institute for International Liberal education at Bard College. Her previous translations include works by Theodor Adorno, Paul Celan, Eduard Hanslick, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Hölderlin, Julius Korngold, Karl Kraus, Hans Kretzschmar, and Richard Strauss.