Judith Schalansky was born in 1980 in Greifswald near the Baltic Sea. She studied Art History and Communication Design and works and as a freelance writer, editor and book designer in Berlin. Her book Atlas of Remote Islands was the winner of the prize for the most beautiful German book of the year in 2009. In 2012 she won the same prize for her novel The Giraffe’s Neck (Bloomsbury 2014). Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages. The asteroid 95247 Schalansky was named after her in 2011.