Frank Schirrmacher

Dr. Frank Schirrmacher is a renowned German futurist, best selling author and since 1994, he has been Associate Editor of Germany’s leading daily newspapers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). He is one of five editors responsible for the Feuilleton section, the arts and science pages of the paper. Of Germany’s newspapers, FAZ has the widest circulation abroad and is the most influential, with one of the world’s largest networks of correspondents.

Frank is a successful author, and became high profile when he published his first book in 2004, ‘The Methuselah Plot’, which discusses the conflicts and discrimination as a result of the generation gap. It arose rapidly to the top of the bestseller charts and has been translated into 21 languages. For this publication he was awarded the “Corine Sachbuchpreis” and the “Goldene Feder 2004” of the Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Germany, and also the ‘Journalist of the Year’.

Frank’s ability to address key issues often receive much attention and have triggered debates about genetic engineering, brain research and the information age. His outspoken views expressed in his lectures regularly lead to lively discussions.

His most recent book Payback, published in 2009, also a best seller, explains the cognitive overload of people in the digital age. In 2010, Payback was nominated for the 2010 Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair in the category "non-fiction".

In 2007 he was distinguished as the first journalist to receive the Jacob-Grimm-Preis for German Language. He was awarded for his outstanding complete works – honoured for his brilliant and highest quality journalism. In 2009 he was awarded the “Ludwig-Börne-Preis. Previously, Newsweek named him as one of the leading Germans of the 21st century.

Frank speaks regularly to corporations on the change in the demographic structure, and the effects this will have on the behaviour of individuals and governments in the future.