Вольфганг Хольбайн: Жизнь и творчество немецкого писателя-фантаста

German writer (born 1953)

Wolfgang Hohlbein (born 15 August 1953 in Weimar, Bezirk Erfurt) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction who lives near Neuss, North Rhine Westphalia. His wife, Heike Hohlbein, is also a writer and often works with him. With more than 200 published books and more than 43 million sold copies he is considered one of the most successful German writers in the fantasy genre.

Wolfgang Hohlbein was born on 15 August 1953 in Weimar, Bezirk Erfurt. When he finished school, he took an apprenticeship as industrial clerk. After the apprenticeship he worked in this profession in the following years. To bolster his income, he also worked as night watchman. It was during this period when he started to write his early works, to pass the time faster. In 1971 he met his wife Heike Hohlbein, whom he would marry 3 years later. Together they raised six children. In 1977 their daughter Rebecca Hohlbein was born, who became a writer herself too. In 1982 he quit his job to work as a full time author. Shortly after he and his family moved to Neuss, North Rhine Westphalia, where they live until today. In 2014 the German TV channel RTL II launched a reality show called Die Hohlbeins – Eine total fantastische Familie (The Hohlbein's, a fantastic family), which aimed to show the life of the Hohlbein family in the a docusoap format. The show garnered about 910,000 viewers during the first episode, but after a fast drop off in viewers and negative criticism of being too trivial and boring it was cancelled soon after.

Writing short stories since a young age, Hohlbein was first recognized as an author after sending in a manuscript he and his wife had written at a fantasy and science fiction writing contest in 1982. They won and their book, Märchenmond (English title: "Magic Moon"), was published by Ueberreuter Verlag, soon becoming a bestseller and winning several awards. In the following years the Hohlbein's wrote two sequels to the book, continuing their success. The trilogy remains their greatest success until today and sold more than 2 million copies. His only works to be translated into English were his three Märchenmond novels, which were published by Tokyopop from 2006 onwards, now titled Magic Moon. Hohlbein's books also have been adapted into other media such as radioplays. The German progressive metal band, Vanden Plas, recorded and consecutively released two full length albums, Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld (Path One) in 2014 and Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld II in 2015, that were adapted from Blutnacht, a theater production based on the author's Die Chronik der Unsterblichen. Throughout the years, various propositions have been made to turn some of his works into film, for example for Das Druidentor or Azrael, but none of these projects were realized. In September 2016 however, Constantin Film announced they will create a feature film based on his book Hagen von Tronje. In 2020 Sony produced a film called Die Wolfgang or The Magic Kids (Three Unlikely Heros) about Vlad the vampire who moves to a new magical town and a special magical school, three of the year 7 children team up together as they all have their own problems a fairy who is afraid of heights, a werewolf who is allergic to fur, and a vampire who can't stand blood. They soon discover that the town is controlled by a demon who is after one thing a magical crystal that has been left by Vlad's mother that could bring back dark magical times if used improperly.