Born: 19 September 1932, Poland
Died: 25 April 2014
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Stefanie Zweig was a prominent German-Jewish author and journalist known for her notable literary contributions. Her most renowned work, “Nowhere in Africa” (1995), gained widespread recognition as a bestseller within the German literary landscape. This autobiographical masterpiece delves into her formative years spent in Kenya, where her family sought refuge to escape persecution during the era of Nazi Germany.
The cinematic adaptation of her work in 2001 won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Zweig’s literary canon boasts a remarkable track record, with her books garnering a readership exceeding seven million copies and translations into fifteen different languages.
After graduating in 1953, Zweig pursued a journalism career, starting at Abendpost in Offenbach. She later became an editor and managed the arts section there from 1963. Abendpost ceased in 1988, leading Zweig to freelance as a journalist and author. During her time at Abendpost, she also wrote children’s books and received awards for “A Mouthful of Earth” (1980).
Her first adult novel, “Nowhere in Africa” (1995), portrays the Redlich family’s life in Kenya (1938-1947). It was a German bestseller, marking the beginning of her prolific writing career. “Somewhere in Germany” (1996) continued the story until 1958. Zweig later published the “Rothschildallee” series and her memoir, “Nowhere was Home: My Life on Two Continents” (2012).