Juli Zeh (, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974) is a German writer and judge. She is known for novels such as The Method (2009), Unterleuten (2016) and About People (2021).

Early life and education

Juli Zeh is the daughter of the lawyer Wolfgang Zeh. She studied law in Passau and Leipzig, passing the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen – comparable equivalent to the U.S. bar exam – in 2003, and holds a doctorate in international law from Saarland University. She also has a degree from the Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig.

Career

Zeh's first published novel was Eagles and Angels, which received the 2002 Deutscher Bücherpreis for best debut novel. She travelled through Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001, which became the basis for the book Die Stille ist ein Geräusch. Among her other books are Das Land der Menschen, Dark Matter, Kleines Konversationslexikon für Haushunde, Gaming Instinct, Ein Hund läuft durch die Republik, Decompression and The Method. Since January 2019, Zeh is an honorary judge at the Constitutional Court of Brandenburg. She was one of the first signers of the Open letter on the German position regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, who demanded not to support Ukraine with arms in order to "prevent a third world war".

Personal life

Zeh is married and has two children. Since 2017, she is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Selected bibliography