Edmund White, born in 1940 in Cincinnati, Ohio, living in New York, is one of the most important contemporary American writers. He became known above all for his autobiographically colored novel trilogy A Boy’s Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty und The Farewell Symphony. He also published biographies of Jean Genet, Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. His most recent German publications include the novels Hotel de Dream and Die Gaben der Schönheit as well as his Paris book Der Flaneur. Edmund White has received numerous awards for his literary work, including the Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Prize of the Deauville Festival for his complete works.