Wolfgang Jeschke facts for kids
Wolfgang Jeschke (born November 19, 1936 – died June 10, 2015) was a German writer. He was famous for his exciting science fiction stories. He also worked as an editor at a big publishing company called Heyne Verlag. In 1987, he won a special prize, the Harrison Award, for his amazing work in science fiction around the world.
Wolfgang Jeschke's Life Story
Wolfgang Jeschke was born in 1936 in a town called Děčín. This town was in Czechoslovakia back then, but it's now part of the Czech Republic. After World War II, his family moved, and he grew up in Asperg, a town near Ludwigsburg in Germany.
After finishing high school, Wolfgang first trained to be a toolmaker. He worked in factories that made machines. But he loved learning, so in 1959, he went back to school. He studied German, English literature, and philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He also learned about how books are published by working at a company called C.H. Beck. In 1969, he started working as an assistant editor for a literature encyclopedia. Later, he became a full editor.
How He Became a Science Fiction Editor
In 1970, another writer named Herbert W. Franke offered a science fiction novel to Wolfgang's publisher. The publisher remembered that Wolfgang was very interested in science fiction. So, they asked him what he thought of the book.
This led to a new series of books called Science Fiction für Kenner, which means Science Fiction for Connoisseurs. This series was published under the Lichtenberg Verlag name. It included Franke's novel, Zone Null, and also a collection of Wolfgang's own short stories called Der Zeiter.
Through this series, Wolfgang helped introduce many important science fiction writers to German readers for the first time. These writers included Robert Silverberg, Thomas M. Disch, and Brian W. Aldiss.
In late 1972, Wolfgang Jeschke joined Heyne Verlag. He became their main expert and editor for science fiction books. After Herbert Franke left in 1979, Wolfgang was the only science fiction editor at Heyne. He stayed there until he retired in 2002. Even after retiring, he continued to live in Munich and worked on the Science Fiction Jahrbuch (Science Fiction Yearbook) with Sascha Mamczak.
Wolfgang Jeschke's Creative Works
Wolfgang Jeschke was one of the first people to join the Science Fiction Club Deutschland (SFCD) when it started in 1955. His very first short stories appeared in special fan magazines called fanzines. He even published his own fanzine, Ad Astra, with a friend named Peter Noga.
He didn't write a huge number of stories during his years as an editor. His work is known for exploring ideas like time travel and paradox. A paradox is when something seems to go against itself, like if you could travel back in time and change something that would stop you from ever traveling back.
His first novel, Der letzte Tag der Schöpfung (which means The Last Day of Creation), became very popular and was translated into many languages. He also wrote plays for the radio, which are called radio plays.
