Marjana Michailiwna Gaponenko

Marjana Michailiwna Gaponenko (*1981 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian writer who writes in German. She spent her childhood and youth in Odessa, studied German language and literature there and began writing poetry in German at an early age.

Gaponenko first became known in Germany for her poetry, debuting in 2000 with the poetry collection Wie tränenlose Ritter (Like Tearless Knights) and publishing further volumes of poetry as well as novels such as Annuschka Blume (2010) and Wer ist Martha? (2012), which won her the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize and the Alpha Literature Prize.

Her texts have been translated into several languages. She now lives in Mainz and Vienna and is a member of PEN Berlin.