Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born 11 November 1929 in Kaufbeuren), is a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He has also written under the pseudonym Andreas Thalmayr. He
lives in Munich.

Enzensberger was born in 1929 in a small town in Bavaria and is the eldest of four boys. He is part of the last generation of intellectuals whose writing was shaped by first-hand
experience of the Third Reich. The Enzensberger family moved to Nuremberg, the ceremonial birthplace of National Socialism, in 1931. Julius Streicher, the founder and publisher of
Der Stürmer, was their next-door neighbor. Hans Magnus joined the Hitler Youth in his teens, but was expelled soon afterwards. "I have always been incapable of being a good
comrade. I can't stay in line. It's not in my character. It may be a defect, but I can't help it."[ Interview: A life in writing ]

Enzensberger studied literature and philosophy at the universities of Erlangen, Freiburg and Hamburg, and at the Sorbonne in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1955 for a thesis about
Clemens Brentano's poetry. Until 1957 he worked as a radio editor in Stuttgart. He participated in several gatherings of Group 47. Between 1965 and 1975 he edited the magazine
"Kursbuch". Since 1985 he has been the editor of the prestigious book series Die Andere Bibliothek, published in Frankfurt, and now containing almost 250 titles. Enzensberger is the
founder of the monthly TransAtlantik. His own work has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Enzensberger has a sarcastic, ironic tone in many of his poems. For example, the poem "Middle Class Blues" consists of various typicalities of middle class life, with the phrase "we
can't complain" repeated several times, and concludes with "what are we waiting for?". Many of his poems also feature themes of civil unrest over economic and class based issues.
Though primarily a poet and essayist, he also makes excursions into theater, film, opera, radio drama, reportage, translation. He has written novels and several books for children
(including The Number Devil, an exploration of mathematics) and is co-author of a book for German as a foreign language (Die Suche). He also invented and collaborated in the
construction of a machine which automatically composes poems. It was used during the 2006 Football World Cup to commentate on games.

In 2009, Enzensberger received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.


Published works:
Verteidigung der Wölfe, Poems, 1957
Viele schöne Kinderreime, 777 poems for children, 1962
Einzelheiten, Essays, 1962
Politik und Verbrechen, Essays, 1964
Deutschland, Deutschland unter anderm, political commentary, 1967
Das Verhör von Habana, Prose, 1970
Constituents of a Theory of the Media, 1970
Der kurze Sommer der Anarchie. Buenaventura Durrutis Leben und Tod, Prose, 1972
Gespräche mit Marx und Engels, 1970
Palaver. Politische Überlegungen, Essays, 1974
Mausoleum. 37 Balladen aus der Geschichte des Fortschritts, Poems, 1975
Polit. Brosamen, Essays, 1982
Ach, Europa! Wahrnehmungen aus sieben Ländern, Prose, 1987
Mittelmass und Wahn, Essays, 1989
Zukunftsmusik, Poems, 1991
Die Tochter der Luft, Drama, 1992
Die Große Wanderung, Essays, 1992
Zickzack, Aufsätze, 1997
Der Zahlenteufel, Novel, 1997
Wo warst du, Robert?, Novel, 1998
Leichter als Luft: Moralische Gedichte, Poems, 1999
Schreckens Maenner: Versuch ueber den radikalen Verlierer (5th ed.), Essay, 2006
Einzelheiten I & II, Essays, 2006
Gedichte 1950-2005, Poems, 2006
Im Irrgarten der Intelligenz / Ein Idiotenführer, Essay, 2007
Hammerstein oder der Eigensinn, Biography, 2008