Frank Schätzing
May 28, 1957
Frank Schätzing is a German writer. His best-known book is The Swarm. He also appears as a narrator in some TV documentaries.
Frank Schätzing studied communication science at the West German Academy for Communication in Cologne and worked for a long time in the advertising industry at Warner as creative director in international agency networks. Among other things, he was managing director of the Cologne advertising agency Intevi, which he co-founded.Since the early 1990s, he has appeared as a writer. After several novellas and satires, he published a historical novel (crime novel) for the first time in 1995 with the title Death and the Devil. This was followed in 2000 by the political thriller Lautlos about the 1999 World Economic Summit.
After five of his books had been published by Emons Verlag under the label Köln-Krimi, he switched to Kiepenheuer & Witsch with the concept of the science thriller Der Schwarm.
In 2004, Schätzing celebrated his greatest success to date with The Swarm, in which an unknown intelligent life form from the deep sea threatens the livelihoods of mankind. Accusations of plagiarism, according to which Schätzing is said to have copied parts of his book verbatim, could not be proven, and corresponding investigations were discontinued.
Until the publication of Der Schwarm, Schätzing's works were rather low and had local success in the Cologne area. After the success of this novel, however, Goldmann Verlag acquired the paperback rights to the previous works for a new edition. Since its publication until 2010, the swarm has reached a total circulation of around 3.8 million copies and has been translated into 27 languages worldwide.
In 2009, Frank Schätzing advertised as a model for the lingerie and lingerie manufacturer Mey.In 2014, Schätzing appeared in a supporting role in Tatort − Borowski und das Meer.
Frank Schätzing is married to Sabina Valkieser-Schätzing (who speaks Tina Lund in the radio play version of Der Schwarm) and lives in Cologne.
On April 24, 2018, his novel The Tyranny of the Butterfly was published. In it, he addresses the opportunities and dangers of artificial Intelligenz.Im December 2020, Schätzing was admitted to the PEN Centre Germany.