Burkhard Bilger has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2001 His work has been anthologized ten times in the Best American series. Bilger was a senior editor at Discover from 1999 to 2005. Before that, he worked as a writer and a deputy editor for The Sciences, where his work helped earn two National Magazine Awards and six nominations. He is the recipient of fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, Yale University, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center. His first book, Noodling for Flatheads, was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the singer Jennifer Nelson.
'Fatherland is the book that we need right now. Gripping, gorgeously written, and deeply humane, it's both a moving personal history and a formidable piece of detective work. Bilger wrestles with one of the essential questions of our time: How can we make peace with our ancestors' past?' Atul Gawande, author of Being Mortal Burkhard Bilger has long been one of our great storytellers: an acute observer, an intrepid reporter, and a writer of unmatched grace. Now he has brought these gifts to his own family story, rummaging through the past to unearth long-kept secrets and to shed light on the nature of war and complicity. Fatherland is that rare book-a finely etched memoir with the powerful sweep of history. -David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon