Bernhard Schlink, born in 1944, was a Professor of Public Law and Legal Philosophy and a former judge at the Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia. His first novel, Self's Justice, was published in 1987; his 1995 novel The Reader, translated into more than fifty languages and adapted by Stephen Daldry into a film starring Kate Winslet, established his worldwide renown. He has been awarded with national and international prizes like the German ›Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) 1st Class‹, the French ›Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur‹ and the Italian ›Grinzane Cavour Prize‹. His latest novel is The Late Life.