Frank Schätzing is one of Germany's most widely read and successful authors. His science and political thrillers regularly top national and international bestseller lists. After studying communication, Schätzing went into advertising, first as a copywriter, then as a creative director, and founded the Cologne advertising agency Intevi with friends. In the early 1990s he began writing novellas and satires and in 1995 published the historical novel "Tod und Teufel" (Death and the Devil), which first became a regional bestseller and later a nationwide one. After two more novels and a volume of short stories, the bestseller "Lautlos" (Silent), a political thriller about the 1999 World Economic Summit, was published in 2000. In spring 2004, his novel "Der Schwarm" (The Swarm) was his national breakthrough and shortly afterwards his international breakthrough. Since its publication, the novel about an unknown intelligent life form from the deep sea that threatens the foundations of human life has reached a total circulation of more than 4.5 million copies and has been translated into 27 languages. In his works, Frank Schätzing combines scientific topics with the reality of his readers' lives in an exciting and witty way, thus creating the best entertainment. Frank Schätzing has already received numerous prizes for his works, including the Corine Prize in the fiction category in 2004 and the German Science Fiction Prize in 2005, as well as the Golden Feather and the German Crime Fiction Prize. In his lectures, Frank Schätzing also succeeds in conveying difficult and abstract topics and captivating his audience - just as he does in his books.