Günter Kunert

Günter Kunert (; 6 March 1929 – 21 September 2019) was a German writer and political commentator. Born in Berlin, he left the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to live in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). He joined the main political party of East Germany, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1948.
A poet, Kunert also wrote short stories, essays, autobiographical works, aphorisms, satires, fairy tales, science fiction, radio plays, speeches, travel writing, movie scripts, a novel, and a drama.
In the 1970s, he was a writing lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2009, Kunert won the America Award in Literature.
Life.
Kunert was born in Berlin. Kunert died in Kaisborstel on 21 September 2019 at the age of 90.
Awards.
Kunert was an honorary doctor of several universities in Italy and the United States. He was awarded the Heinrich Heine Prize of Düsseldorf in 1985, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012 and the Kunstpreis of Schleswig-Holstein in 2014.