German-Austrian author Daniel Kehlmann (1975) was born in Munich, grew up in Vienna and studied philosophy and literature until he almost finished a doctoral thesis on Immanuel Kant – but he had already completed his first novel while still a student –  and decided to become a writer instead. Nonetheless, he has held lectureships at multiple universities through the years. Kehlmann’s writing, and especially Measuring the Wild, is influenced by magical realism. This novel was published in 2006 and became the best-selling novel in the German language since Patrick Süskind’s Perfume was released in 1985.